ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Lady Rangers Basketball is set for the first conference tournament game for Northwestern in the opening round matchup against Southwestern Oklahoma State with tip-off set for 8:00 PM at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
The Lady Rangers (24-6, 16-6) enter the tournament as the #3 seed in the conference battling against the #6 seed Bulldogs (13-15, 10-12). This will be the third matchup of the season between the two programs after the Lady Rangers swept the regular season series 2-0. Overall Southwestern leads the series history 20-6 over the Lady Rangers dating back to 2013. This will be the second meeting in the Great American Conference Tournament as Southwestern won the only other meeting in 2019.
The first meeting this season the Lady Rangers won 66-52 behind 44 points and 16 rebounds from Faith Simpson. In the second meeting in Alva Northwestern won 72-48 after a 17 point and 11 rebound performance double-double. Simpson is averaging 30.5 points and 13.5 rebounds in this matchup in the two games.Â
Overall this will be the Lady Rangers fourth Great American Conference Tournament appearance looking for their first win sitting at 0-3. Southwestern comes in with a 19-7 tournament record looking for their fifth title.Â
The Great American Conference announced their annual awards on Wednesday evening as Faith Simpson earned Great American Conference Player of the Year, and All-GAC First Team, while Carly Craig earned All-Conference Honorable Mention team. Southwestern had one player in Averi Zinn earn Honorable Mention All-GAC.Â
Faith Simpson leads the Lady Rangers offense with 21.6 points per game leading the conference in scoring and is third amongst DI and DII players in field goals made with 263. Carly Craig is the other double figure scorer at 12.6 per game while leading the conference with 71 three pointers made, along with a team high with 119 assists on the season. Simpson leads the team with 34 blocks on the season along with 8.2 rebounds per game on the defensive side of the floor. Craig leads the team with 71 steals on the season followed by Payton Jones with 52.Â
Southwestern is led by Averi Zinn with a team high 12.7 points per game as the only double figure scorer. Second on the team is Mason Jones at 8.6 points per game. Zinn leads the team with 133 assists on the season. The defensive side of the floor Zinn leads the team with 63 steals on the year while Hailey Grant leads the team with 17 blocks while adding 36 steals. Lanie Gooch is the team leading rebounder with 5.7 per game.Â
Coverage for the game can be found on the Great American Conference network (https://www.youtube.com/@GACAthletics), live stats found at (https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=519938) and listened to on the radio at 105.7KRDR or (https://www.alvaradio.com/).Â
For the latest news and updates on NWOSU Athletics, follow @NWOSUAthletics on TWITTER or visit www.riderangersride.com.
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