SHAWNEE – On Friday, March 7, the third-seeded Oklahoma Baptist Bison will face off with No. 6 seed Northwestern Oklahoma State in the quarterfinal round of the Great American Conference Tournament.
Tip-off is slated for 2:15 p.m. inside Southside Arena at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The winner of this game will move on to play the winner of the No. 2 versus No. 7 matchup – Harding and Southern Arkansas – on Saturday, March 8 at 2:15 p.m. This is the first contest between OBU and Northwestern in GAC Tournament history.
Earlier this year, OBU (20-8) won both regular-season contests against the Lady Rangers by scores of 83-70 and 67-51. The Bison held Northwestern to 35.7 percent shooting overall and a mere 24 percent from deep.
Todd Miller and Scott Wanish will have the call of the game on the Bison Sports Network and Classic Hits KGFF.com. Below you'll find notes on both squads.
Bison Notes
- OBU finished first in the GAC and ninth in the country with 30.4 bench points per game.
- The Bison were also tops in the league and 17th nationally with 4.4 blocks per game.
- Furthermore, OBU has the best free throw percentage in D2 (82.2) and rank top-five in the nation in three-point attempts (28.8) and threes made (9.5) per contest.
- Mackenzie Crusoe, an All-GAC First Team honoree, has scored 478 points this year. That's third-best in the GAC and 47th in the nation.
- Crusoe has also been a fabulous free throw shooter, ranking second in the conference and 28th nationally at 85.0 percent.
- Speaking of the previous matchups with Northwestern, Crusoe and Parker Stevenson both had double-figure scoring efforts in both games on Jan. 4 and Feb. 15.
- In the latter game, Crusoe dialed up seven steals, the third-most by a GAC player this year and a season-high for the Bison. Plus, it was the most steals by a Bison player since 2018.
- Frontcourt players Jill Leslie and Sierra Copeland each had four-block efforts in the first and second games, respectively, versus the Lady Rangers.
- Also of note, as a team, the Bison tallied 38 total assists against Northwestern, the most they had against any opponent this season.
- One negative during the regular-season series was turnovers. OBU committed 17 in each game which was the third-highest total against an opponent this season.
- In GAC Tournament history, OBU is 1-4 all-time. The program's lone win came during the 2022-23 season when the fifth-seeded Bison downed fourth-seeded Arkansas Tech 73-67 at nearby FireLake Arena.
Coach Bo Overton's thoughts on Northwestern:
"Northwestern is very hard to guard because they are strong inside and can shoot the 3. They are also very good in turning turnovers into transition points. We will have to do a good job of taking care of the ball to win this game."
Lady Rangers Notes
- Northwestern is 14-14 and are coming off a nice, eight-point win over fourth-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma State, 76-68, on March 1.
- Of note, the Lady Rangers did earn an impressive win over No. 1 seed Southern Nazarene, 55-50, back in December at Alva.
- The Lady Rangers are the No. 1 ranked GAC team in offensive rebounds per game (14.0). That mark is also 44th nationally.
- In the two games with OBU this season, they accumulated 33 offensive boards.
- Defensively, they create a lot of chaos on defense. Northwestern has pressured their opponents into a little over 17 turnovers per game while snatching 9.2 steals per contests. Both those categories rank second in the GAC.
- Northwestern has missed freshman guard Kennedy Hight since she went down to injury in late January. She scored 30 in the matchup in Shawnee on Jan. 4 and posted an 11-for-12 line at the charity stripe.
- Carly Craig is second in the GAC with 62 three-pointers made. Her 33.3 percent mark is also 18th-best in the conference.
- In the previous matchups with OBU, Northwestern made just 6-of-25 (24.0) from deep.
- They also never won any of the four halves against the Bison this season.
- Northwestern is 0-4 all-time in the GAC Tournament. Last year, after compiling a 24-6 regular-season record and attaining the third seed, the Lady Rangers were upset 65-61 by SWOSU.
