By MALCOLM SMITH
Student Reporter
Both the men’s and women’s teams won two games at home last week.
Men’s basketball
NWOSU men’s basketball beat Southern Arkansas University, 77-72, on Feb. 1, and University of Arkansas at Monticello, 81-63, on Saturday.
The Rangers are now 11-9 for the season and 9-5 in the GAC, sitting in third place behind Arkansas Tech and Southeastern Oklahoma who each are 11-3.
Guard Brian Free led both games in scoring, with 29 on Feb. 1 and 23 on Saturday.
The battle Feb. 1 was a hard one for the Rangers, with the score tied five times and the lead changing four times. Sophomore forward Kabeya Tshibangu started off the first half strong with a slam dunk. He went on to earn 5 points for the Rangers.
Four Rangers ended the night in double digits: Free with 29, redshirt freshman guard Justin Norris and graduate student forward Chance Love with 13 each and redshirt senior forward Larry White at 10.
Saturday, Free, with 23 points, and White, 11 points, were joined in the double digits by redshirt sophomore guard Camron McDowell, 19 points, and redshirt junior DaRaun Clark, 11 points.
The Rangers led the game from the outset and never relinquished the lead.
Women’s basketball
The Lady Rangers defeatedSouthern Arkansas University, 57-53, on Feb. 1 and trounced University of Arkansas-Monticello, 75-58, on Saturday.
NWOSU is now 19-3 for the season, 11-3 in the GAC, putting them in third behind Southern Nazarene (14-0) and Harding (13-1).
In the Feb. 1 game, senior forward Faith Simpson started the scoring with a 2-point layup and ended up accounting for 27 points with 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
Junior Camille Thomas accounted for 17 points and junior guard Carly Craig 10 points.
It was a tough night from the three-point line for the entire Lady Rangers team with Craig’s two 3-pointers as the only ones of 12 attempts to be successful.
In the Saturday game, Simpson again led the team in points, 30 total with 10 of them from free throws.
The only other player in double digits was junior Payton Jones with 13 points. She also sank 7 for 7 on free throws.
Free throws were key for the Rangers, making 32 of 39 (82.1%) throughout the game., including all 12 in the third quarter.
