SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist (3-5, 0-2 GAC) is heading to Durant on Dec. 9 for a matchup with Southeastern Oklahoma State (4-4, 0-2 GAC) at 1 p.m. inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The last time these two teams met in Durant, OBU came away with a 78-72 victory with
Jaedyn Getman,
Faith Wright and
Jill Leslie all scoring at least 15 points.
The Bison Sports Network will be on site for the call of the game beginning around 12:30 p.m.
Defensive Focus
One of the main issues early this season for the Bison has been their defense. Coming into its fifth week of action, OBU is slotted 11th in the Great American Conference in opponent three-point field goal percentage (32.7) and 12th in overall field goal percentage defense (41.1). Those numbers rose after last weekend's game at Northwestern. The Rangers shot 59 percent from the field and made half of their 24 three-point shots. That marked just the sixth time in 233 Division II games that an opponent made at least 50 percent from the field and three. The last time it happened was Feb. 21, 2019 when Arkansas Tech made 60 percent from the field and a percentage point better (61) from deep.
Continuing to Lead
In six of the last seven games, sophomore
Jaedyn Getman has been the Bison's top scorer. Last week, she registered 40 points after recording 23 against SWOSU and 17 at Northwestern. The sophomore from Stratford, Okla., ranks second in the GAC and 13th nationally in scoring (19.9), third in three-point percentage (50.0) and eleventh in field goal percentage (48.3). To date, she has 159 points and is on pace for 557 this season. If that happens, she'd become just one of 26 Bison players to ever reach 500 in a season. The last time that happened was in the 2014-15 campaign when Charity Fowler scored 501 points.
More on Getman
On top of being the nation's 13th-leading scorer, Getman also has a couple other top-25 marks. Her 120 field-goal attempts are slotted 23rd while her 58 made shots rank Getman 19th in the country.
Golden Graham
Freshman guard
Catyn Graham scored a season-high 12 points against Northwestern last week. That included a 4-of-7 showing from downtown. The newcomer from Savanna, Okla., started the contest 4-for-4 from deep which was only the second occurrence by an OBU freshman in the D2 era. Just a season ago,
Faith Wright started a matchup at Southeastern Oklahoma State on Feb. 23, 2023 by making all five 3-point attempts. This season, Graham is slottted in 18th in the GAC in three-point percentage (36.4).
Time to Get on Track
OBU is 0-2 to start GAC play for the first time since the altered spring season of 2020-21. They'll look to get into the win column this Saturday. In the matchup with Southeastern, the green and gold dialed up a 78-72 win last year in Durant. Getman scored 20 while Wright,
Melissa Southard and
Jill Leslie, who will return for OBU this week, all reached double figures.
The Return of Leslie
She has been a key contributor for the Bison the last two seasons and now that volleyball season is over, junior forward
Jill Leslie will return to the hardwood this week. The 6-foot-3 native of Wichita Falls, Texas was a key cog for last year's team. She posted career-bests in points (6.8), free throw shooting (76.9), three-point shooting (32.5), blocks (42) and rebounding average (5.6) as the Bison finished 17-13. Leslie reached double-figure scoring seven times including a career-high 21 points against Southern Arkansas on Jan. 26, 2023.
Long-Range Shooting
So far this season, the Bison have relied on their three-point shooting ability. They are making 32.4 percent which is good for fourth in the GAC. What's most noteworthy though is the team's reliance on the deep shot. Through eight games, 37.2 percent of the team's field-goal attempts are from the three-point line. That is currently the highest percentage ever taken by a Bison squad in the Division II era. The previous high was 36.9 percent during the 2016-17 season. With Leslie returning, a player that made nearly 48 percent of her two-point shots a season ago, see if the Bison adjust their attack heading into Saturday's game at Southeastern.
Closing Strong
One of the interesting stats that's not favored OBU too many times is late-quarter scoring. In this season's eight contests, and excluding the fourth quarter, the Bison have been outscored in the final five minutes by a 214 to 194 margin. Included in that mix was a tough day against Southwestern. The Lady Bulldogs tallied 41 points in the final five minutes of the first through third periods in last week's game at the Noble Complex. The Bison scored just 14 in that same span. Keep an eye out on this front going forward.
Meet the Savage Storm
The Storm's last two games, against No. 14 Southern Nazarene and Southwestern Oklahoma State, were both close losses. SE fell by a 68-62 count to SNU before falling 52-49 to SWOSU. Southeastern evened its record at 4-4 with the results.
After an opening-season loss to Concordia-St. Paul, SE's next four wins were in a streak that started with Winona State, included Southwestern Assemblies of God and Midwestern State, and ended with Oklahoma Christian.
Caitlin Kobiske is the top threat for the Storm. She leads with a 16.4 scoring average which is good for eighth in the GAC. Kobiske has scored in double figures in seven of eight contests including a 26-point performance on 9-of-11 shooting against Midwestern State on Nov. 18. The junior from Keller, Texas is one of the leading free throw shooters in the country as well. She has gotten to the line 45 times which ranks 17th in D2.
Leading the way individually on the free throw line is Ashton Hackler. Her 96.7 percent mark is third-best in the nation. Twice this season the junior from Hartshorne, Oklahoma has gone 8-for-8 at the charity stripe. That came on Nov. 11 versus Winona State and Nov. 18 against Midwestern State.
As a team, Darin Grover's squad ranks No. 21 in the country with a 78.3 free throw percentage. They are also eighth in the country and atop the GAC with 31.2 defensive rebounds per game. Plus, SE sits just inside the top-50 in D2 with 41.38 total rebounds per game.
Holli Lindley is a major factor on the rebounding front for SE. Her 8.5 boards per game is fifth in the GAC and is good for 81st in Division II. Lindley has pulled down at least five rebounds in every game including two, 13-rebound performances against Winona State and Southwestern Oklahoma State (12/2).
Lauren Beason possesses serious three-point shooting ability. While she has only taken 16 attempts in five games of action, she has made 11 of those for 68.8 percent. That mark would be atop the GAC leaderboard if she had enough three-point field goal attempts. Beason has made six of her last eight from deep and is second on the team with a 10-point scoring average.
Junior guard Aimee Alverson has 21 assists to her credit, a team-high. She has dished out as many as six assists twice: Nov. 11 against Winona State and Nov. 18 against Midwestern State. Alverson is slotted tenth in the GAC with a 2.6 per-game average.
Southeastern's offense outside of Kobiske has been sluggish. Its 62.6 scoring average is 11th of 12 GAC schools. The Storm also rank 11th in team field-goal percentage at 35.5 percent.
One other area for concern for the Storm is turnovers. SE is committing 18.4 turnovers per game. That's last in the GAC. They've committed as few as 12 in a game, Nov. 30 against Southern Nazarene, but also have coughed up the ball at least 20 times in three others: Nov. 10 vs. Concordia-St. Paul; Nov. 21 against Oklahoma Christian and Nov. 22 versus Texas A&M International.
