Game 13: Northeastern State (6-6, 2-4 MIAA) vs. Lincoln (3-10, 0-5 MIAA) at 3:30 p.m. | January 6, 2018
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
	Lincoln Game Notes

The Series 
Northeastern State has lost three in a row to the Blue Tigers and are 1-1 at home when facing Lincoln; all the meetings have come in MIAA regular season play.  Overall, the RiverHawks trail the series 4-2.

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 104-79 overall and within conference play she is 63-55.  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.

Ayana McWilliams (8-31) is in her second season as head coach at Lincoln.  Prior to taking over at LU, McWilliams spent five years as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina Upstate, a NCAA Division I program. During her final season at South Carolina Upstate, McWilliams helped lead the Spartans to a program-record 22 victories as well as a berth in the Women's Basketball Invitational tournament, USC Upstate's second postseason trip in three years.

Last Time Out for NSU 
Northeastern State could not recover from a slow start to the second half and fell 66-53 to Lindenwood on Thursday evening inside the NSU Event Center.  Lauryn Blevins came up with 12 points to the pace the RiverHawks who led the Lions for most of the first half.  Cailyn Long was in double-figures with 11 points off the bench for the RiverHawks who were out-rebounded by the Lions 50-to-37.

Last Time Out for LU 
Faith Brintle scored 12 points and Bre Coleman tallied eight points and eight rebounds, but the Lincoln women's basketball team fell to Central Oklahoma on Thursday evening (Jan. 4). The Blue Tigers dropped an 81-39 decision to the Bronchos, who are ranked No. 16 in the current WBCA Division II national poll.

The Graduate 
NSU graduate student Lauren Woods joined the RiverHawks at the mid-season mark for her final semester of eligibility, and rejoins head coach Fala Bullock who were together last season at Armstrong State.  Woods played in 27 games and started in 21 for the Pirates one year ago, while averaging 5.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

A NSU win would…

• Halt a three game skid against Lincoln.
• Surpass their 2016-17 win total. 
• Move the RiverHawks to .500 in MIAA play.

A LU win would…

• Be their first road win this season in seven contests.
• Snap a six game losing streak.
• First MIAA win of the season.

Coming Up
Northeastern State heads on the road for the next two weeks and will play at Washburn on Jan. 11 for a 5:30 p.m. tip in Topeka, Kan.