ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Lady Rangers hosted Arkansas Tech for the first conference game of the season. The Lady Rangers opened the game on a 16-4 run, controlling the game the rest of the way, holding the lead for 39 minutes in a 72-62 victory over the Golden Suns. 

The Lady Rangers improve to 4-3 on the season with a 1-0 Great American Conference record while Arkansas Tech drops to 0-1 in conference play. 

Northwestern was led by Payton Jones in points with 19 on the evening, one of two double figure scorers with Carly Craig finishing with 18 points after knocking down four three pointers. Camille Thomas led the way rebounding with a team high 10 for the Lady Rangers along with a game high three steals. Kennedy Hight and Summya Adigun each had two assists. 

Kira Bass opened the scoring for the Rangers Thursday with a basket off the opening tip-off. After the Lady Ranger defense forced a steal from Camille Thomas, Craig knocked down her first three pointer for the early 5-0 lead. The opening four minutes of the game the Lady Rangers took a 12-2 lead to start going 5-8 from the field getting seven points from Payton Jones. Northwestern forced two steals in the time frame while holding Arkansas Tech to 1-6 shooting from the field. Hight then extended the lead to 16-4. Arkansas Tech was able to chip into the Ranger lead toward the end of the opening quarter getting as close as four but a Carly Craig three pointer in the final seconds pushed the lead to 23-16 at the end of the first quarter. 

The second quarter started with all defense after each team traded foul shots; the first basket of the quarter came at the 6:13 mark from Arkansas Tech. In that stretch the teams combined for 1-11 shooting from the field, before Tegan Jones knocked down her firs three pointer of the game assisted by Craig kicking the Lady Ranger lead back to eight. Payton Jones stretched the lead back to double digits half way through the quarter at 29-19. This was a part of a 9-0 run as the lead grew to 33-19 the largest to that point in the game. The Lady Rangers led 40-30 heading into the halftime break after Payton Jones made a layup to give her 16 first half points in the game and a 10 point halftime lead. 

Arkansas Tech, looking to climb back into the Lady Ranger lead was the first to score in the half but a Craig three pointer and a Hight jump shot had the Lady Ranger lead to 11. Arkansas Tech got as close as five points at 45-40 before Craig made history with Northwestern hitting a three pointer to send her into the 1,000 point club in the Lady Ranger record book. The Golden Suns continued to dive into their deficit, chipping it down to five at 53-48 following a layup from Cunningham. Northwestern led 54-48 through three quarters of play as Payton Jones hit a foul shot for the final point of the quarter. 

Northwestern's defense continued to carry the lead through the fourth quarter, holding Arkansas Tech scoreless in the opening two minutes of the quarter and just two points until the 6:30 mark of the fourth. The Lady Rangers as a team forced 17 turnovers in the win, combining for six steals, while holding Arkansas Tech to only 37.9% shooting and 11.6 percent from three. Summya Adigun helped extend the lead bak to 10 with a layup and a 60-50 lead. Arkansas Tech though answered with an 8-0 run getting as close as two at 60-58, and 62-60 before Northwestern used a 10-0 run to take the lead back into double digits at 70-60 hitting eight straight foul shots to seal the win from the line as Craig put the final touches on the game with six straight at the line and a 72-62 Lady Ranger victory. 

Northwestern Oklahoma State will be home on Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 PM tip-off scheduled on December 7th against Harding University. 

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