Women's Basketball Prepares for Top Teams in GAC

SHAWNEE - The Oklahoma Baptist women's basketball team returns to action this weekend as they will get a stiff test from some of the top teams in the Great American Conference beginning with Southwestern Oklahoma State at home on Thursday night before turning around facing off with East Central on the road on Saturday afternoon. OBU also picked up a non-conference game against Oklahoma Christian on Monday night at the Eagles Nest.

Thursday's game will be on the Bison Sports Network on the OBU YouTube channel featuring Todd Miller on play-by-play and Scott Wanish on color commentary. The game will also be featured on the Bison Radio Network across the state of Oklahoma and on the iHeartRadio app. On Saturday, the Bison's contest will be on the Bison Radio Network with Miller and Wanish while Monday's game will be an audio broadcast.

The Bison continue to search for their first win despite some great play in recent contests. OBU continues to show improvements, but can't seem to get over the hump and notch the first win of the season. The Bison have held a lead at halftime in their last their last two contests and held a late fourth quarter lead over Southern Nazarene on Monday. The Bison have lost five of their eight games within single digits.

The OBU offense continues to struggle, averaging only 56 points per game on 37 percent shooting, on the bottom half of the GAC. The Bison defense has been stellar on the season as the scoring defense is sixth in the GAC (69.0), the total rebounds are third in the GAC (286), and OBU is second in the GAC in blocked shots (23) and steals (68).

Jaylin Stapleton continues to lead the Bison with 11.4 points per game and 3.6 assists per game while Charissa Price comes off a nice game against SNU to average 9.5 points per game and just over one steal per contest, leading the team with 11. Andreja Peciuraite continues her stellar play with 9.4 points per game and a team leading 7.1 rebounds per game while freshman Kayla Highfill continues to impress with 5.6 points per game and a steal per contest.

Kaylee Hurst comes in with nine steals per game while Melissa Southard is second on the team in rebounds with 4.5 as well as seven steals. Jacie Engler and Jenni Beebe have been a few of the go-to players for the Bison down the stretch.

Against Southeastern, it was another tale of two halves for the Oklahoma Baptist women's basketball team as an excellent first half which saw OBU hold a five point lead was thwarted by a tough second half including a dreadful third quarter to give the Bison a 65-55 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State last Saturday in Durant. 

Highfill finished with a career-high 10 points and three boards while Peciuraite hit a career-high 11 rebounds to go with nine points. Hurst and River Romine each scored seven off the bench while Stapleton had six and a pair of steals.

OBU held a 63-61 lead late in the fourth quarter and seemed like they were closing in on a huge victory over rival Southern Nazarene, but back-to-back 3-pointers completely stunned the Bison and gave the Crimson Storm a 71-63 victory on Monday evening inside the Noble Complex.

Price finished with 16 points and a pair of steals, while Stapleton added 14 points, four assists, three rebounds, and two steals. Peciuraite had 13 points, nine boards, and two blocks, while Southard added five points and eight rebounds.

SWOSU comes in with a 7-1 record with the same mark in the GAC, but is fresh off their first loss of the season against East Central last Saturday before bouncing back with a 10 point win over Northwestern. The Bulldogs are one of the top offenses in the country, sitting in fourth with 89.2 points per game as well as third in steals per game with 15.6. They defeated OBU in Weatherford 91-58 despite an excellent first half from the Bison where they trailed by five.

Makyra Tramble leads the way with 23.0 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game while Karly Gore follows with 13.0 points per game, 6.6 rebounds per game, and nearly five assists per contest. Macy Gore checks in with 12.4 points per game while Tabor Beer sits at 9.8 points.

East Central comes in as one of the hottest teams in the GAC as they have won six straight since their opening loss to SWOSU to move to 6-1 overall and in the conference. The Tigers come off a pair of huge wins over the Bulldogs and rival Southeastern and are one of the best defensive teams in the country, holding opponents to 57.7 point per game this season. ECU defeated OBU in Shawnee earlier in the season by the score of 57-50.

Mackenzie Crusoe leads the way with 12.5 points per game to go with 5.7 rebounds per game and 14 steals while Kendall Schulte adds 11.0 points per game. Madison Rehl pitches in 10.5 points per game. 

The Bison added a contest with Oklahoma Christian as they come into this weekend 3-3 overall and in the Lone Star Conference. They are led by Brooklin Bain with 13.2 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game followed by Kendall Blackburn with 12.7 points per game. Maddison Collyer Ingraham checks in with 11.3 points per game and over seven assists per contest.

Thursday's contest is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from Noble while Saturday's contest in Ada begins at 2:00 p.m. Monday's contest in OKC has a scheduled tip-off time of 6:00 p.m.