SHAWNEE – A crucial two-game road swing to Arkansas Tech and Harding is on deck for the Oklahoma Baptist women's basketball team. On February 10, the Bison play the Golden Suns in Russellville before facing the Lady Bisons in Searcy on the 12th.
This road trip, historically, has not been kind to the green and gold. Since becoming full members of DII in 2017-18, OBU has gone 1-5 against the two schools.
These teams have met before this year. On January 6, Harding left the Noble Complex with a 63-53 win. Two days after, the Bison rang up a 90-80 victory over ATU.
Continuing to Dominate
After another impressive performance, this time against Southwestern Oklahoma State on February 5,
Kalifa Ford is almost in a class of her own in the GAC. She is one of only two players (Sage Hawley, Harding) to rank in the the top eight in these categories: fifth in scoring (17.5); second in rebounding (9.3) and eighth in field goal percentage (48.3). Ford boosted those totals in recent games with three straight double-doubles, including a 23-point, 10-rebound performance against SWOSU. Additionally, she has 11 double-doubles this season, a top-16 mark in Division II.
The Free Throw Advantage
As has been mentioned numerous times this year, the Bison's ability at the free throw line has been impressive. Their current mark of 76.4 is 33rd-best in the country. In 18 of 21 contests, OBU has made at least 10 including a season-high and D2 single-game program record 35 in the January 27 comeback win against Ouachita. Furthermore, the team has been able to outscore opponents at the charity stripe in 15 of 21 affairs. Individually, eight players are hitting at least 75 percent:
Sierra Copeland,
Kennedy Large,
Madison Chambers,
Andreja Peciuraite,
Payton Taylor,
Mallory Lockhart,
Jaylin Stapleton and Ford.
Winning at Tucker Coliseum
Thursday night's matchup at Arkansas Tech will be the sixth time OBU has played inside Tucker Coliseum. In four of the five previous contests there, things haven't gone the green and gold's way. The Bison are 1-4 at ATU's home court dating back to December 3, 2015. Tech won the first three matchups before OBU won 63-59 on January 12, 2019. In the last meeting in Russellville, the Golden Suns claimed a 78-63 result. In fact, that latter tally attained by ATU has been the average scoring margin in favor of the Golden Suns in the five previous games.
Lockhart Long-Range Update
Lockhart went 3-for-5 from downtown in the Bison's last game against Southwestern Oklahoma State on February 5. That trio of makes boosted her season total to 59, a mark that is 13th-best in the country. Lockhart is also hitting 42.4 percent from three. That total is second-best in the GAC and No. 25 in Division II. This season, the junior has hit multiple threes in 14 games including a season-best seven in the contest against Washburn on November 13.
An Important Road Trip
The last of the trips to Arkansas, the next two Bison games against Arkansas Tech and Harding are of vital importance. OBU still sits in fourth place in the GAC after the loss to SWOSU. A win over the Golden Suns would complete the season sweep against ATU and mean that OBU has tiebreak advantages over Tech and Northwestern. Currently, all possess an 8-7 conference record with seven GAC games remaining.
Last Time Out
Oklahoma Baptist nearly defeated Southwestern Oklahoma State on February 5, falling 71-68 at the Noble Complex. The green and gold led by 13 points with 6:26 remaining but couldn't close it out down the stretch.
Despite the defeat, OBU remained in fourth place in the Great American Conference. OBU is now 12-9 and 8-7 in the league.
Ford continued her recent strong play with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds. It was her eleventh double-double of the year. Lockhart added 14 points and four assists while Stapleton and Large each contributed double-digit scoring efforts with 10 and 11, respectively. Additionally, Stapleton notched six rebounds and five assists.
The Bison defense was outstanding, holding SWOSU to its third-lowest field goal percentage total of the season (36.6).
Scouting Arkansas Tech
Arkansas Tech has three of the top-14 scorers in the GAC. In fact, they are the only school to boast that. Kaley Shipman is fourth in scoring at 18.3 points while Jayana Sanders and Ashlei Lopez rank 12th and 14, respectively, averaging 14.9 and 14.5.
ATU's biggest team threat is its ability to shoot the ball and block shots. Its field goal percentage of 42.9 and 3.6 blocks per game each rank third in the GAC.
The Golden Suns have been really good at home this season, winning seven of nine. Coach Dave Wilbers' team has averaged nearly 79 points per game at Tucker Coliseum including eclipsing 90 points in three different games.
Scouting Harding
The Lady Bisons had their seven-game winning streak snapped after a 70-58 loss to Arkansas Tech on Feb. 7. Despite that, Harding sits in second place in the GAC and two games out of first place.
Harding ranks among the middle of the pack in most statistical categories. Its best marks come in assist-to-turnover ratio (3rd; +1.0), offensive rebounds per game (3rd; 13.4), assists (4th; 14.3) and blocked shots (4th; 3.5).
HU also struggles in multiple areas: they are 11th in both free throw percentage (67.1) and three-point field goal percentage (29.0).
Sage Hawley is Harding's best player. She is the conference leader in rebounding (10.0), ranks fifth in field goal percentage (51.3) and is eighth in scoring (16.8). The 6-foot-4 sophomore has scored in double figures in all but one game with a season-high of 26 against Southern Arkansas on December 2. On the rebounding front, she has reached 10+plus boards in 13 games including a season-high 16 against Arkansas Tech on January 13.
