SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will visit Northeastern State on Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. inside the NSU Event Center. The sixth all-time matchup, OBU holds a 4-1 series advantage.
Last week, the Bison went 1-1 during the Washburn Crossover Classic in Topeka, Kansas. The green and gold fell 70-66 to Pittsburg State before defeating the host Washburn Ichabods, 43-41.
Not A Bad Start
Among the key storylines after the first week of hoops season was the performance of freshman forward
Jaedyn Getman. Over the two contests at Washburn's Crossover Classic, she averaged 17.5 points per game and 4.5 rebounds. Included in that was a 22-point output against Pittsburg State on Nov. 11. That total was the most ever scored by a freshman in a debut since the Bison joined the NCAA Division II ranks in 2015-16. Heading into the second week of action, Getman is ranked third in the Great American Conference in scoring (17.5).
Senior Step-Up
Head Coach
Bo Overton made it clear during the preseason: the returning seniors would need to step up. After two games, the Bison are off on the right foot.
Madison Chambers scored 18 points, a career-high against Pittsburg State before
Melissa Southard chipped in with 12, another career-high, in the 43-41 win against Washburn. Additionally, Southard secured six rebounds and six steals in the victory against the Ichabods. Her six steals currently rank No. 1 in the Great American Conference.
Cashing In
Over the weekend in Topeka, Kansas, the Bison wound up collecting 42 combined turnovers between Pittsburg State and Washburn. In turn, the green and gold tallied 43 points off those miscues.
Defensive Presence
Third. That's where this Bison squad stands in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense among the 10 Great American Conference schools after the first week of action. OBU gave up an average of 55.5 points per game in those two contests against Pittsburg State and Washburn and also held those two schools to 37.7-percent shooting.
Vote For OBU
OBU was awfully close to winning both games last weekend at Washburn, falling by four, 70-66, to Pittsburg State before downing the Ichabods, 43-41. Those results caught the attention of others. The D2SIDA Central Region Rankings were released on Nov. 14 and that poll had a single vote for the Bison. That's the first time in the D2 era (2015-16) that a Bison team has garnered an all-region vote. The D2SIDA poll is voted on by athletics communications directors.
Take The Freebies
Yes, it's only been two games, but this Bison team appears to be a solid free-throw shooting unit. They are hitting 77.3 percent, a mark this is good for fourth in the GAC. It should be noted that coach
Bo Overton's squad's previous seasons saw the Bison ranked third (2019-20; 74.1) and second (2021-22; 77.4) in free throw percentage. Leading the individual charge so far this campaign is Getman (83.3%) and Chambers (75%).
Second-Half Squad
There have been some real positive signs for this young OBU team through two games. The first, rallying from a 15-point second-half deficit against Pittsburg State. The second, and extremely noteworthy: putting the ball in the hoop. Through the third and fourth quarters of the contests against PSU and Washburn, two halves, the green and gold have hit 26-of-51 of their field-goal attempts. That's just above 50-percent shooting (50.9).
Dominate The Paint
The 2022-23 roster has as much collective size as any team that OBU has put on the court since joining NCAA D2 in 2015-16. Eleven of the team's 15 players are at least 5-foot-11 with sophomores
Jill Leslie and
Sierra Copeland being the tallest (6'3). That has helped pay dividends in the early portion of the schedule as OBU has outscored its opponents 48-38 in the paint.
Scouting Northeastern State
Northeastern State posted a 7-21 record last year, including a 5-17 mark in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. That put the Riverhawks in 12th place in the MIAA, their lowest conference positioning since ending the 2018-19 season in 13th place.
The Riverhawks lost a lot from a year ago. And that's not an understatement. Four of the team's top five scorers are gone including Maleeah Langstaff and Zaria Collins who averaged 17.3 and 11.8 points, respectively. The team's top returning scorer is Ashton Hackler, a sophomore from Hartshorne, Okla. She scored 7.6 points per game and hit 33 percent from three last year.
Northeastern had a weird start to its season: a canceled tournament. NSU was scheduled to play Northwestern Oklahoma State and Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota in the Central Region Challenge. However, temperatures of 15- and 6-degrees along with a winter storm caused a cancellation.
NSU's only regular-season game to date came against Kansas Christian on Nov. 16. That school is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). The Riverhawks won 87-41.
In that contest, Ashton Hackler scored a game-high 20 points while Courtney Lee notched a double-double of 11 points, 12 rebounds. One area of concern: free throw shooting. NSU was just 12-of-20 at the charity stripe, a 60-percent clip.
