RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On Thursday morning, the Great American Conference released its 2021-22 women's basketball preseason poll and the Oklahoma Baptist Bison were slotted in ninth.
Southwestern Oklahoma State was named the preseason favorite with 111 votes including five 1st-place nods. Arkansas Tech checked in at No. 2 while Southern Nazarene was voted third.
Coach
Bo Overton returns his top-three scorers from the altered spring season.
Guard
Kalifa Ford led the team with a 15.2 points-per-game average by scoring in double digits in ten of the 13 games she played in. Fellow backcourt member
Jaylin Stapleton will also be relied upon this winter. She tallied 11.6 points and 3.94 assists per game, a mark that was fifth best in the GAC.
Rounding out OBU's leading returners is forward
Andreja Peciuraite. The native of Lithuania saw action in all 21 contests, started 18 of those, and contributed 11 points per game and 7.2 rebounds, a total that ranked seventh in the conference.
There are a few others to keep an eye on for the Bison, including a couple of transfers.
Guard
Mallory Lockhart comes to Bison Hill after playing the previous two seasons at Oklahoma City University. She was an NAIA Division I Honorable Mention All-American during 2019-20. One of her teammates,
Payton Taylor, also made her way to OBU as a graduate transfer. During a six-game spring season, the forward hit nearly 46 percent of her three-point attempts and averaged about five rebounds per game.
Additionally,
Kayla Highfill returns after playing the most games (16) of any freshman last year. She hit 33.8 percent from the field and contributed 4.6 points in her first go-around for the Bison. Highfill won't be the only newcomer earning playing time this season. Overton's roster features six first-years that will see action.
Competition for the Bison starts Nov. 3 on the road in an exhibition game against NCAA DI Texas A&M University at College Station.
For complete information on Bison women's basketball, follow the team's official Twitter account (
OBU_WBBall) and download the new OBU mobile app on your
iOS or
Android device.
2021-22 GAC Preseason Women's Basketball Poll
1. Southwestern Oklahoma State
2. Arkansas Tech
3
. Southern Nazarene
4. Southeastern Oklahoma State
5. Harding
6. Henderson State
7. East Central
8. Ouachita
9.
Oklahoma Baptist
10. Southern Arkansas
11. Northwestern Oklahoma State
12. Arkansas-Monticello
