Game 9: Northeastern State (4-4, 1-2 MIAA) vs. Southwest Baptist (7-2, 0-1 MIAA) at 1:30 p.m. | December 9, 2017
Tahlequah, Okla. | NSU Event Center
 

Live Stats	sidearmstats.com/nsuok/wbball/
Live Stats for Media	sidearmstats.com/nsuok/wbball/media
Live Audio	GoRiverHawksGo.com
Live Streaming Audio	portal.stretchinternet.com/nsu/
Play-by-Play	Bill Huddleston
Live Streaming Video	TheMIAANetwork.com ($)
	Northeastern State Game Notes

The Series 
Since 2004, the RiverHawks trail the overall series 5-7 when facing the Bearcats. At Northeastern State, the RiverHawks trail the series 5-2. 

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 102-78 overall and within conference play she is 62-55.  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.

Kelsey Keizer (50-47) is in her fourth season on the Bearcat bench after leading SBU back to the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City for the first time in three years. Keizer and the Bearcats are coming off back-to-back winning seasons (16-14, 7-12 MIAA last year), which has not been done since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. 

Last Time Out for NSU 
The RiverHawks fought out of a 13-point deficit in the third quarter and were a point away from overtaking the Bronchos in the fourth but they came up short falling 55-46 in MIAA play on Tuesday evening.  Cailyn Long had nine of her team high 12 points in the second half, Tree Brooks was NSU's second leading scorer with eight.

Last Time Out for SBU 
In their first MIAA conference matchup, the Southwest Baptist team fell on the road to #25 Central Oklahoma, 85-68.  The Bearcats trailed from the start with the Bronchos opening the contest on a 19-2 run.  Megan Rosenbohm had a game-high 21 points and 3 steals on 41.2% shooting (7-17). The 21 points marked the eighth 20+ point effort for Rosenbohm this season.

A NSU win would…

• Halt a three game skid against the Bearcats.
• Be their first Saturday win this season (currently 0-3)
• Match the RiverHawks MIAA 2016-17 win total.

A SBU win would…

• Be the fourth win in a row over the RiverHawks.
• Three straight wins in Tahlequah over NSU.
• Split the opening week for the Bearcats in MIAA play.

Up next
Northeastern State will head on the road after a sizable break and will visit Texas Woman's on Dec. 19 for non-conference play.