By OAKLEE FIELDER
The Lady Rangers lost one and won three to continue their hot streak at the start of the 2025-26 season.
They played Pittsburg State University, Hesston College, Cameron University and Oklahoma Panhandle State University. They lost to Pittsburg State in overtime and won the other three games in landslides.
Pitt. St. 68-64 NWOSU
The whole game against Pittsburg State was incredibly competitive, with the game going into overtime to force a winner. Neither team managed to get more than 10 points ahead of the other.
The Lady Rangers were able to build a substantial lead midway through the first quarter, but Pittsburg State was able to come back and keep the Lady Rangers within striking distance. The first quarter ended with the Lady Rangers up by just two, 13-15.
At the start of the second quarter, the Gorillas tied the game. After trading baskets with NWOSU, Pittsburg took the lead by one with a three-pointer. The Lady Rangers fought back and took the lead by three, but the fight was far from over. The two teams battled hard, trading the lead and tying the game multiple times. The half ended just like the first quarter, with the Lady Rangers up by two, 26-28.
The third quarter started with the Lady Rangers opening up and extending their lead to eight points. After the Gorillas fought back to shrink the Lady Rangers’ lead, Northwestern scored a three-pointer with Catyn Graham to extend their lead to nine. The Gorillas fought to get close to the Lady Rangers once again before the end of the third quarter, and it ended with Northwestern up by just five, 40-45.
The final quarter started with Northwestern holding its lead and even extending it to six before the halfway mark in the fourth. With just over two minutes left, the Gorillas started pushing to get close to the Lady Rangers. They took the lead by two with 48 seconds left on the clock. A tip-in from Conley Cayot tied the game at 58 to force overtime.
In overtime, the Gorillas started with two free throws, but only made one. They extended their lead to four with a three-pointer. Pittsburg fouled and gave the Lady Rangers two free throws, and it was a two-point game. In an attempt to save the game, there was a foul on Northwestern to give Pittsburg State two free throws. The Gorillas drained them both and won the game 68-64 over Northwestern.
Hesston 17-108 NWOSU
In the second game in the four-game stretch, the Lady Rangers destroyed the Hesston Larks, and that’s putting it lightly.
The Lady Rangers did not let Hesston College score in the first quarter. Instead, they scored 35 points of their own to open the game and set the early tone. In the second quarter, the Larks scored their first points of the game with two free throws. Four minutes into the second quarter, Hesston scored a three-pointer to give themselves five points. To end the first half, the Lady Rangers were up 68-5.
In the third quarter, the Lady Rangers didn’t stop pushing as they increased their lead to 74 points by the end of the quarter. The Larks were able to increase their score by five points with a three-pointer and a jumper at the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter was about the same as the third. The Lady Rangers scored many more points, and the Larks found more success as time went on. Hesston scored seven points in the fourth quarter to increase its score to 17.
Camille Pritchard had 19 points, the most for Northwestern’s players. Madison Denison had the second most with 15. Keely Hussey was not far behind Denison as she had 14. Denison, Kira Bass, and Emma Jo Locks had four steals each.
Cameron 56-83 NWOSU
The next game for the Lady Rangers was a little bit more competitive, although they still were able to beat their opponent by a fair number of points.
The first quarter was competitive, with the two teams battling hard at the start. Eventually, the Lady Rangers picked up their pace and started to get a lead over the Aggies. By the end of the quarter, the Lady Rangers were up by seven over the Aggies, 19-12.
In the second, Northwestern found a rhythm and not only stayed in the lead of the game, but they expanded their lead to 13 by the end of the half. The Lady Rangers seemed to find something that worked against the Aggies as they continued to push and ended the half 45-32.
The start of the third quarter was incredibly competitive. The two teams traded scores back and forth until a three-pointer from Summya Adigun for the Lady Rangers sent Northwestern on a short run to increase their lead to 19. The Aggies fought back and were able to get within 15 of the Lady Rangers to end the third quarter.
The fourth quarter saw Northwestern turn on the afterburners as they went on a crazy run throughout the entire final quarter and saw their lead increase by over 10 points. At a point in the fourth, the Lady Rangers were almost up by 30 with just minutes left to play. Eventually, the game had to end, and Northwestern had its fourth win of the season, 83-46.
Kira Bass showed her offensive skill as she scored 21 points against the Aggies, nine field goals and three free throws. Graham was a far second with 15 points, five field goals and five three-pointers.
Pan. St. 46-104 NWOSU
There was another triple-digit game for the Lady Rangers, as they defeated Panhandle State by over 50 points on Saturday.
The Lady Rangers only let nine points go against them in the first quarter, as they scored 31 to set the early tone of the game. The second half had echoes of the first as the Lady Rangers only let up 11 points against their 25.
The third quarter was also very similar. The Lady Rangers scored 30 points and only let 14 go against them. They slowed down in the fourth, only scoring 18, but still outscoring the Aggies by six.
Bass led the Lady Rangers in scoring once again, with 18 points. Bas made five field goals and eight free throws. Cayot had the most three-pointers with five. Jaida Shipp had the most field goals with seven, plus her one free throw. Ella Porter had four steals, showing that the Lady Rangers have not just offense, but also defense.
The Lady Rangers are set to face Arkansas Tech on Thursday and Harding University on Saturday.