ALVA, OKLAHOMA - The Lady Rangers closed out a perfect week with a dominating performance winning 75-59 over the Muleriders. Northwestern outscored Southern Arkansas 22-9 in the opening quarter controlling the game from the first quarter.
The Lady Rangers improve to 8-8 on the season with a 5-5 conference record while Southern Arkansas drops to 8-8 with a 3-7 GAC record.
Northwestern had four players in double figures led by Carly Craig and Kennedy Hight each with 20 points combining for 11 three-pointers in the win. Kira Bass and Jaida Shipp had 14 and 13 points. Camille Thomas led the Lady Rangers with eight rebounds in the win as Hight led the team with seven assists. Craig had a team-high three steals win the win.
The Lady Rangers jumped out to an early lead after shooting sixty percent from the floor including eighty percent from three hitting four in the opening quarter. Shipp opened the scoring with an offensive rebound put back for the early 2-0 lead. High then drilled back-to-back three-pointers helping Northwestern expand the lead. She had scored eight straight for the Lady Rangers who took a 10-3 lead early in the quarter. Craig pushed the lead to double digits hitting her first three-pointer of the game as the Lady Rangers were out in front 17-7 over the Muleriders. Similar to Hight this started eight straight points for Craig as Northwestern had a 22-9 lead over Southern Arkansas after the opening quarter as Camille Thomas blocked a Muleriders three-point try. Craig and Hight combined for 16 of the 22 first-quarter points.
Shipp scored the first four points for the Lady Rangers before Craig knocked down a three-pointer as the Lady Rangers continued to control the game going in front 29-10. This was the first of three straight three-pointers for Northwestern as Craig and Hight each knocked down another one as the lead grew to 25. The second quarter was much the same for the Lady Rangers as Northwestern made 10 shots including four more three-pointers going into halftime with eight made in 12 attempts. Northwestern had opened a 47-21 lead at the halftime break for the 26-point lead holding Southern Arkansas to 1-15 from behind the arc in the first half.
Southern Arkansas had their best quarter of the game in the third when the Muleriders were able to knock down six three-pointers, outscoring the Lady Rangers by three. Hight opened the quarter with a triple to take a 50-21 lead before Kira Bass sent the Rangers to the largest lead to point in the game at 31 with a 52-21 lead. The Muleriders went on a 12-2 run hitting four three-pointers shrinking their deficit to 21. Northwestern continued to hold the 20+ lead through three quarters with a 63-40 lead over Southern Arkansas.
Kennedy Hight was first to score again in the fourth quarter pushing the lead back to 25 for the Lady Rangers. Southern Arkansas scored their highest point total in a quarter for the night tying the 19 from the previous third quarter hitting three more triples to make it nine in total for the second half. Northwestern finished the game shooting 52.7% from the floor and hitting 11 three-pointers in the afternoon shooting 11-21 from deep.
The Lady Rangers closed out the 16-point victory with a final of 75-59 for the second straight win in the three-game home stand.
Northwestern has its third straight home game on Thursday evening January 23rd against rival Southwestern Oklahoma State with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM that night.
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