SHAWNEE – A week that features three road games starts Monday for Oklahoma Baptist as it heads to Southern Nazarene in Bethany on Feb. 13.
OBU is holding on to the fifth-place spot in the Great American Standings with a 13-10 overall record and 9-8 mark in league play. Southern Nazarene is 19-4, 16-1 in the GAC and has clinched a spot in the March 2-5 GAC Tournament being held at FireLake Arena.
These two teams met three weeks ago at the Noble Complex with SNU winning 84-61. In that contest, the Crimson Storm turned the ball over just six times and hit 55 percent from the field and 48 percent from three. Leading the way for SNU was Hannah Giddey who scored 16 points. In all, five different Storm players reached double figures.
As for the Bison, they got 12 points apiece from
Melissa Southard and
Jaedyn Getman. OBU's offense was decent in the game, hitting 4-of-8 from deep and 41.8 percent from the field but it couldn't keep pace with SNU's attack.
Coming into this contest, the Bison have lost four straight. Their offense has been the main source of problems, especially with guard
Erika Ankney sidelined. In the last four contests, OBU has scored just above 51 points per game and not done nearly as well as the foul line as they've done before. The green and gold have hit 71 percent of their freebies and have also turned it over 16 times per game.
Leading the way offensively for OBU the last few games is
Madison Chambers and Getman. They have averaged 13.5 and 12.3 points, respectively.
On the opposite bench, Southern Nazarene has won nine straight games. They have outscored opponents by about 13 points per contest in this stretch while holding a +7.1 rebounding advantage. SNU has also limited opponents to 29.7 percent shooting from deep.
Individually, three different players have averaged at least 12 points per game in this nine-game unbeaten streak: Giddey (12.0 ppg); Cassandra Awatt (12.6) and Georgia Adams (12.9). As a team, SNU has hit 43 percent of its shots the last nine contests.
The Bison Sports Network will be in attendance for the game tomorrow with Todd Miller and Scott Wanish on the call beginning a little after 5 p.m. (CT).
