By OAKLEE FIELDER
The Lady Rangers made the Great American Conference and are seeded 2nd with their first opponent being East Central University on Thursday.
Northwestern sealed their ticket to the tournament after their game against the University of Arkansas at Monticello on Feb. 21. After a win against Oklahoma Baptist in the final home game of the season and a tight loss against Southern Nazarene, they were seeded second in the standings, above Arkansas Tech and below Harding University.
The Lady Rangers are set to face East Central University, seeded seventh, on Thursday in the first game of the playoffs. If they win, they play Saturday at 8 p.m.. against the winnter of the Arkansas Tech vs. Ouachita Baptist game.
The Lady Rangers have a 1-1 record against East Central. In their last meeting, they were defeated by the Tigers 61-56. Earlier in the season, though, they topped the Tigers 74-56.
In the last five games, the Lady Rangers won four, only losing the last game against SNU by two, 50-48.
Kira Bass continues to be the top player on the Lady Rangers’ roster. Bass has been the GAC Player of the Week three times and the Division II national player of the week once. Summya Adigun is also one of the top players with 246 points, 9.1 points per game on average and 107 defensive rebounds. Jaida Shipp is another player to watch out for with 231 points, .462 field goals made and .814 free throws made.
With a 14-8 GAC record, Northwestern sits in second place behind Harding with a 17-5 record.
The Lady Rangers easily are one of the top three teams in the tournament, and have a high chance to make the finals. They only have to play their best to win.
According to Sports Information, this is the highest seed that the Lady Rangers have had since joining the Great American Conference, and the third season in a row that Northwestern has made the GAC tournament. Last season, the Lady Rangers defeated Oklahoma Baptist in double overtime to win their first GAC tournament game in program history.