After the nail biting wins over Southeastern Oklahoma State, the men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the Great American Conference basketball championship. Both teams have had a hard-fought season. The women’s team finished the season off with a record of 14-14 and a conference record of 11-11. The men’s team ended with the same exact record of 14-14 and a conference record of 11-11.
The women’s team spent most of the season jockeying for the fifth position in the rankings against Southwestern Oklahoma State.
The Lady Rangers finished off in sixth position in the GAC rankings. SWOSU finished ahead of the Lady Rangers, only having a better record than them by one win. The Lady Rangers finished on top of Southern Arkansas University, who had a conference record of 9-13.
The women’s team finished in fifth when it comes to an average points per game in the GAC. They averaged 66 points per game and scored a total of 1849 points as a team. When it comes to defense, the Lady Rangers finished seventh in the conference, allowing a total of 1739 points scored against them, averaging out to 62.1 points against them throughout the season.
Payton Jones was the highest scorer for the team, having a total of 107 field goals made, 23 three pointers, and 105 free throws. Which comes out to a total of 342 points this season. She averaged 12.7 points per game. Kira Bass had the highest field goal made percentage, scorings 113 and attempting 245, with a percentage of .461 field goals made. Bass also had the most blocks and steals for the Lady Rangers, having a total of 24 and .9 per game. Carly Craig played the most minutes in the team and the league.
She had 1024 minutes played throughout the season with an average of 36.6 minutes per game.
The Lady Rangers will start the tournament on Friday, March 7 at 2:15 p.m. They will play against the number three Oklahoma Baptist University Lady Bison. The Lady Rangers were defeated twice by the Bison in the regular season, one away ending 83-70, and one at home ending 67-51. It will be a hard fight for the Lady Rangers, but momentum after a large win over Southeastern, they may be able to pull it off against the Bison.
Most of the men’s season was spent battling SWOSU, Arkansas Tech and later in the season, Henderson State. The four teams were fighting for fifth place in the GAC rankings. Henderson State and SWOSU finished with the same record of 12-10, NWOSU had a record of 11-11, and Arkansas Tech fell off towards the end and finished with a record of 9-13.
Northwestern had scored 2117 points in the season, averaging out to 75.6 points per game which puts them in fifth. The Rangers had one of the worst defenses in the conference ending up in eleventh out of twelve teams. The Rangers allowed 2183 points scored against them, averaging out to 78 points against per game. Camron McDowell led the league in scoring shooting 237 field goals, 78 three pointers, and 157 free throws, equaling out to 709 points in total and and average of 27.3 points per game. Although he led the conference in scoring, he was not the most accurate, only making 237 of the 458 he shot.
He was accurate with his free throws though. He made 157 of the 187 he shot.
Max Alexander was not far behind on free throw accuracy, making 175 of the 209 he shot. Kabeya Tshibangu was the best defensive player for the Rangers. He stole and blocked 25 shots an averaged 1 per game.
The Rangers will play on the first day of the tournament. Thursday, March 6 at 2:15, the Rangers will face off against the Ouachita Baptist University Tigers.
The Rangers were not able to topple the Tigers this year in the regular season, losing once away 81-70 and one time at home 79-78.
After an intense and adrenaline rushing win over Southeastern, and with the last game against the Tigers so close, the Rangers do stand a chance against Ouachita Baptist.