Game 5 at Pioneer Cellular Event Center, Weatherford, Okla. 
Saturday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. | at Southwestern Okla. | Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes

The Series
Since 2005, the RiverHawks lead the overall series with the Lady Bulldogs, 13-7, and in Weatherford they are 6-3.  Northeastern State won 11 contests in a row in-between 2007 and 2012 before Southwestern Oklahoma has won three of the last four contests. 

The Coaches
Fala Bullock is in her first season as head coach and was named to lead her alma mater on April 1, 2017 to replace Randy Gipson who retired after 18 years.  With six years of head coaching experience, Bullock is 101-75 overall and within conference play she is 61-53.  She has spent the last four seasons (2013-17) as head coach at NCAA Division II Armstrong State University, where she recorded a career mark of 60-52.  In her first season at Armstrong State, she led the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history, and reached the Sweet 16. 

Bullock played for Gipson for two seasons, and was a graduate assistant under Gipson from 2004 to 2006.  As student-athlete, Bullock played in 57 games and NSU went 36-19, winning the 2003 Lone Star Conference Tournament, and made the program's first NCAA Tournament berth.   As a member of Gipson's coaching staff, NSU reached the Sweet 16 in 2004, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and 2006.

Kelsi Musick (134-101) is in her ninth season at Southwestern Oklahoma and is a two-time Great American Conference Coach of the Year.  Musick has led SWOSU to four GAC Tournament Championship games with two GAC Tournament Championships (2012, 2014) and two NCAA Division II Tournament.

Downtown
After four games this season, the RiverHawks lead the MIAA with 9.0 three-pointers per game, and they are second best at the arc with a 39.1 shooting percentage.  True freshman Cenia Hayes is third in the MIAA at the arc with 52.6-percent of her shots coming down, and averages 2.5 a game.

The Comebacks
The RiverHawks already have a pair of double-digit comeback wins this season through the first four games.  Northeastern State trailed Northwestern Oklahoma by ten points midway through the third quarter and won their season opener 82-75.  Most recently on Wednesday, Northeastern State trailed Southern Arkansas by 13 with 6:03 left in the third quarter and won 86-76. 

Coast to Coast 
Seventeen unanswered points to start last Wednesday's contest at home against Rogers State gave the RiverHawks their first coast-to-coast win (79-66) over an opponent since Dec. 31, 2016 at Oklahoma Baptist.  The RiverHawks spread the wealth with four players in double figures and were led by Destiny Strange who had a career night with 19 points.  Miranda Griffin and Cenia Hayes both had 14 points, with Lauryn Blevins adding 13 off the bench. 

Go Long
NSU junior Cailyn Long is a returning All-MIAA performer for the RiverHawks after battling from a late season injury to average 13.7 points in 24 games.  She missed three contests last season and came back late to grab a career high 29 points in the final contest of the season.  In just over two seasons, Long has 664 career points, and has sank 104 three-pointers.

NSU Newcomers
The RiverHawks have six newcomers who will hit the floor this season with transfers Joi Bertrand (Cal State Dominguez Hills / Cypress College), Tree Brooks (Collin College), Bailee Eldred (Murray State), and Morgan Hellyer (Adelphi) , joining freshman Cailey Cunningham (Fort Gibson HS), and Cenia Hayes (Sequoya HS).

At the Line
The 2016-17 Northeastern State squad broke a program record for the best free-throw percentage at .766, and besting a program mark that has been around since the 1991 season (.757).  

A NSU Win Would...

• Give the RiverHawks their best start since the 2011-12 season there they went 25-6 overall.
• Snap a skid of eight straight road losses.
• First win in Weatherford since Feb. 6, 2012 (84-72).` 

A SWOSU Win Would...

• Move to 6-0 and matching their best start since the 2010-11 season. 
• Third straight win over the RiverHawks.
• Move SWOSU head coach Kelsi Musick to 4-7 all-time against Northeastern State.

Up Next
Northeastern State will remain on the road and will start MIAA play on Nov. 30 at Northwest Missouri.