ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball team will enter the final weekend series of the year in a position to secure their spot in the program's first ever Great American Conference Postseason Tournament.
The Lady Rangers will enter the final two games of the season against East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State one game out of a tie for the seventh and eighth playoff spots. Northwestern currently has a record of 7-13 while three other teams in Oklahoma Baptist, East Central, and Southern Arkansas all have records of 8-12.
While many different scenarios could occur over the weekend's games across the conference, the only thing the Lady Rangers can control is their performance in the final two games. Those performances will hopefully lead to two wins that will be enough of a final push to get them into the tournament.
That push towards the final few spots began last Saturday with a 78-71 victory inside Percefull Fieldhouse against Southern Nazarene. That win gave the Lady Rangers some confidence heading into Monday's showdown with the one-seed Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs, in a contest in which the Lady Rangers pushed the Bulldogs all the way to the end and nearly completed the comeback before eventually falling 84-75.
Northwestern will now shift their focus to earning two road victories in Ada and Durant this weekend with the hopes that those victories will be enough to push them into one of the final few spots in the GAC postseason tournament. The Lady Rangers have enjoyed the services of point guard
Jade Jones throughout the recent busy stretch of basketball, as the Pond Creek, Okla. native totaled 11, 15, and 19 points during the past three games over the weekend.
Jones will be a vital contributor during this weekend's series and will look to guide an offense that ranks fourth in the league with an average of 72.3 points per game. Jones leads the conference with an average of 5.5 assist per game and will look to use her multiple scoring options throughout the final two games of the season.
Freshman
Selena McDonald and
Kinsey Neiderer have displayed the scoring prowess that will make them future stars in the Great American Conference throughout the season. The young Lady Rangers have combined for 24 games of 10 or more points and will be looked upon to score early and often against two squads this weekend that rank in the top five in scoring defense.
That quality defense from East Central was not enough to slow down the Northwestern offense back on Jan. 20 inside Percefull Fieldhouse. Northwestern came away with a 75-62 victory over the Tigers and limited East Central to just six points in the final five minutes of the contest. A group effort on the defensive side of the ball will be required if the Lady Rangers hope to complete the season sweep of East Central.
Northwestern will then square off with a Southeastern team on Saturday afternoon that defeated Northwestern by a final score of 83-76 back on Jan. 18 in Alva. Northwestern struggled to refrain from committing fouls down the stretch against a physical Savage Storm team and awarded Southeastern with 27 free throw attempts throughout the evening, in which the Storm connected on 23 of those attempts. Jones posted a career-high total of 26 points in the game and with another similar performance from her and an improved defensive effort, the Lady Rangers should be able to provide a stiff test for Southeastern.
Games are scheduled to tip-off at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday in Ada and then again on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Durant.
