ALVA, Okla. – With five games remaining in the 2017-18 season, the path to the Great American Conference postseason tournament has become much clearer for the Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball team.

Despite winning just one of their last five contests, head coach Tasha Diesselhorst's team will still have a legitimate chance at qualifying for postseason play with strong performances in their final five games. Northwestern will square off against the five opposing Oklahoma-based schools and will enter the weekend's games just one game back for the eighth and final seed of the tournament at 6-11 in conference play.

Northwestern will take on Oklahoma Baptist to get this weekend's series of games started on Thursday evening and will look to defeat the Lady Bison for the second time this season after defeating them by a 78-69 total in the team's first meeting back in Alva on Jan. 13. Oklahoma Baptist currently sits in a tie for the eighth and final spot in the GAC postseason tournament with a 7-10 conference record, making Thursday night's contest on the road in Shawnee Okla. critical for the Lady Rangers hopes of earning a spot in the tournament.

The Lady Rangers will then move forward to Saturday's game and look to take advantage of a Southern Nazarene squad that was held to less than 50 points in both of their losses over the past weekend against Arkansas Tech and Harding. The Crimson Storm has lost eight straight games dating all the way back to Jan. 15 and will be desperate for a win on Saturday afternoon, as they currently trail Northwestern by one game at 5-12 in conference play.

As for coach Diesselhorst's team, a past weekend that included a quality performance against Arkansas-Monticello and a bad performance a few days later at Southern Arkansas pretty well summed up the inconsistent play that has plagued the Lady Rangers as of late. Freshman Kinsey Neiderer scored 21 and 17 points during the two games this weekend and led Northwestern to a 70-62 win over Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday night.

The Okarche, Okla. native is now averaging 10.7 points per game and has reached double-digit scoring in each of her last three games. Neiderer has made 14 three-point shots throughout those last three games and will be looked upon to get going early and often on Thursday evening from behind the three-point line.

Northwestern struggled in their first meeting back on Jan. 11 with Southern Nazarene,  during a game in which they made just 16-of-62 shots throughout the contest. An increased focus on knocking down the open shots when available will undoubtedly be a point of emphasis in the pre-game preparation this week.

Those shots will have to go down in each game, but against the number two ranked scoring offense in the league in Oklahoma Baptist (80.9 points per game), the ability to keep pace with a high-octane offense is even more paramount. The Lady Bison have continued to be led all season by guard McKenzie Cooper, who ranks second in the conference with an average of 17.5 point per game, but will have to find a way to get the standout going against the Lady Rangers as she scored just seven points in the previous match-up between the squads.

Averaging just 56.6 points per game over the course of their eight game losing streak, Southern Nazarene will be looking for a compliment to junior Adrienne Berry, who leads the squad with 14.5 points per game. Aside from Berry, no other Crimson Storm player is averaging double-digit scoring while the team now ranks 10^th in the league with an average of 65.6 points per game. Berry totaled 21 points in the Crimson Storm's 76-54 victory over the Lady Rangers back on Jan. 11 and will be heavily focused on by the Northwestern defense throughout Saturday's game.

Games are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off on Thursday and a 1:00 p.m. tip-off on Saturday.

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