TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State women's basketball hits the floor officially for the first time for the GAC/MIAA Regional Challenge in Claremore this Friday and Saturday. The RiverHawks will first face Southwestern Oklahoma on Friday at 4 p.m. and then see Oklahoma Baptist the following day at 2 p.m. Both games will be played inside the Claremore Expo Center and hosted by Rogers State.
A quick look back
The RiverHawks closed out a busy preseason playing three NCAA Division I exhibitions with its most recent being on Monday at Oral Roberts. True freshman Annaston Brown led NSU with 17 points and six rebounds at ORU after sinking five three-pointers. In those three exhibitions, NSU averaged 39 rebounds and was -2.33 reb/pg on the glass comparability. Newcomer Alex Hill averaged 10.6 points per game and was 6-for-11 from the field against Oral Roberts on Monday. Off the bench, Grace Abercrombie also averaged double-figure scoring in the three exhibitions.
About Southwestern Oklahoma
Southwestern Oklahoma is picked to finish third in the Great American Conference after going 15-16 (10-12 GAC) last season. The Bulldogs made a late charge in the GAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and lost in its championship game to Henderson State. Southwestern returns ten players from last season's squad and all five of its starters.
The series
Northeastern State has not faced Southwestern since 2017 with the Bulldogs leading the overall series 37-24. The majority of the series was controlled by SWOSU during both team's NAIA eras where they won 26 of the first 28 games. Oddly, Friday is the first neutral site meeting between the two programs since its first in 1982.
About Oklahoma Baptist
The Bison were tied with Southwestern Oklahoma for third place in the Great American Conference preseason poll after going 12-17 (9-13 GAC) last season. Oklahoma Baptist returns 11 players to its squad and has Jaedyn Getman who finished second in the GAC with 17.5 points per game.
The series
This Saturday will be the 30th meeting between the two programs with OBU leading the series 15-14. The two programs have faced six times as NCAA members with a 21-year gap between meetings that halted in 2016. Northeastern State won the last meeting in 2022 inside the Event Center 72-55, with Courtney Lee having 21 points.
Up next
The RiverHawks head to Durant on Wednesday evening to play Southeastern Oklahoma before returning to Tahlequah the following day to host Haskell.
