ALVA, OKLA- The Lady Rangers are set to return to action as Northwestern travels to Magnolia, Arkansas, to take on Southern Arkansas for a Great American Conference game. This will mark the Red-and-Black's first game since December 18th in a win over Southeastern to head into the winter break.
 Northwestern (5-5 overall, 1-3 Great American Conference) enters Thursday on a two-game win streak with wins over Southeastern and Bacone. Southern Arkansas (7-2 overall, 2-1 GAC) looks to continue its three-game win streak following victories over Ouachita, Champion Christian, and Henderson State. This will be the Mulriders' first game since December 14th after a December 18th game was postponed at Arkansas Tech.
The Lady Rangers will look to continue to turn to their defense that ranks third in the conference, only allowing 60.8 points per game. Northwestern ranks fourth in steals per game and total steals averaging 10.6. Josena Frame leads the Lady Rangers with 15 steals through the opening ten games, followed by Bailey Brown with 14. Brown leads the team with six blocks along with Camille Thomas. The rebounding margin is first in the GAC with a 10.4 difference and third overall in team rebounds. Brown leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game, followed by Scout Frame with 5.1.
The Red-and-Black is led by Brown with 16.9 points, followed by Kinsey Neiderer with 10.0. Neiderer leads the team in three-point shooting hitting 28 threes on 51 attempts for 54.9 percent on the season. This is a conference and nation-best percentage for Neiderer, who is coming off winning the player of the week award in the Great American Conference. Andi Pierce is third, averaging 9.4 points a game. Northwestern comes into play averaging 74.6 points per contest for seventh in the conference. Southern Arkansas' defense allows 83.6 points a game for 12th in the conference. Northwestern shares the ball at a high rate with 147 assists on the season for third in the conference. Carly Craig leads the team with 38 on the year, good for second in the conference.
Scouting Southern Arkansas:
The Mulriders come in on a three-game win streak, including two conference wins in that stretch in which Southern Arkansas scored over 100 points in each of those three games.
Southern Arkansas come into the Thursday game with a high-powered offense averaging 95.7 points which are first in the conference and second in the nation. They find success through averaging 17 assists per game, leading the conference and 13th in the nation. They shoot second in the league in made three-pointers per game and eighth in the nation.
Their offense is led by five double-figure scorers, first from Kisi Young at 15.7 points per game on 60% shooting from the field. Ariana Guinn is second at 12.3 points shooting 42%from three. Kenzie Ezekiel at 11.1 per game. Guinn leads the team in assists with 30 on the year in the opening nine games for the Muleriders.
Defensively Southern Arkansas is led by Ezekiel with 22 steals and Kylie Warren with five blocks on the season. They are first in the conference in steals per game with 15.2 on the year.
History:
The series history between the two teams is even at 8-8 after a season split in 2020. The two teams did not meet in 2020-21. The Lady Rangers have won three of the last four games against Southern Arkansas, including a two-game win streak in Magnolia.
Links:
The game can be followed at:
Stats: https://muleriderathletics.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/user/MuleriderSports/videos
Radio:https://mixlr.com/classic-hits-1057-krdr?utm_source=desktop_app&utm_medium=share_section&utm_campaign=31.5&utm_content=livepage_link
