ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Women's Basketball is set to begin the New Year on the road against Oklahoma Baptist. The Lady Rangers (6-5, 3-2) are in Shawnee facing the Bison (8-3, 4-1) at the Noble Complex with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM.

The history between the two programs is led by Oklahoma Baptist with a record of 21-11-1 dating back to 2007. Oklahoma Baptist leads 6-4 in the last 10, and 11-5 in Shawnee. The Lady Rangers last win was in Alva with a 91-70 victory in December of 2023. 

NORTHWESTERN:

The Lady Rangers enter Saturday with a one game win streak after a 59-38 victory over East Central on December 19th. Northwestern is 0-3 on the road this season.

In the win against East Central Payton Jones led the team with 20 points and 11 rebounds earning the double-double one of two players in double figures joined by Carly Craig with 15 points. Jones led the team with four steals. Jones also was rewarded with Great American Conference defensive player of the week. 

For the season Jones is the team leading scorer averaging 15.4 points per game scoring double figures in 10 of the 11 games, while scoring 20+ in two straight games. She is one of three players averaging double figures in points along with Kennedy Hight at 10.8 points per game and Kira Bass at 10.0 points. Kennedy Hight and Carly Craig each lead the team with 38 assists on the season. 

Defensively Camille Thomas leads the team with 23 steals and is tied with the team high with eight blocks Kira Bass. Bass is tied for second in steals with 18 on the season. Thomas and Bass both lead the team with over six rebounds at 6.4 for Thomas and 6.1 for Bass per game. 

Lady Rangers are top 25 in Division II in Free Throw Percentage at 25 with 76.9 for fourth in the conference, Turnover Margin sitting in 17th and second in the conference with a plus six margin.

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST:

The Bison enter play on Saturday coming off a two point loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford 62-60. The Bison have won four of their last five games overall. The Bison have a perfect 4-0 record at home and have won six straight in Shawnee dating back to last season. 

The Bison are led in scoring by Mackenzie Crusoe one of two double figure scorers joined by Jaedyn Getman. Crusoe leads with 17.3 points while Getman averages 12.6 points per game. Crusoe has scored double digits in 10 of 11 games for the Bison. Crusoe leads the team with 37 assists on the season. 

Crusoe leads the team on defense with 25 steals on the season while Sierra Copeland leads the team with 14 blocks while also adding 17 steals. Copeland is team leading re-bounder with 5.5 per game while Jill Leslie is second with 5.1 

The Bison are top 25 in DII for free throw percentage, sitting at number one with 82.7 percent, along with three pointers per game at 9.1 which is 10th in DII. 

STAT OF THE GAME:

The two teams compare coming out of the winter break games, Oklahoma Baptist holds a 3-5 conference record in the first GAC game starting the New Year while they are 6-4 overall in the last 10 games. Northwestern holds a 5-5 record in the first conference game out of break with a 6-4 record overall. This will be both teams first game after the break this season. 

FOLLOW THE GAME:

Stats: https://obubison.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

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