GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH GOLDEN SUNS 8-5 (5-4 GAC)	SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA BULLDOGS 8-7 (5-4 GAC)
Saturday, January 20 | 1 p.m. Tucker Coliseum | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | GAME NOTES

TIPPING OFF
The Arkansas Tech women's basketball team looks to keep things going positively this week after a big upset win over nationally-ranked Northwestern Oklahoma just a day ago. In doing so, the Golden Suns remain at home to take on Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon.
 
This will be the 44th meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma in a series that dates back to the 1986-87 season. Overall, Tech holds a 23-20 lead in the series. Since the two became conference foes within the GAC prior to the 2011-12 season, the Golden Suns are 13-14 against SWOSU.
 
As conference foes, the two teams met twice last season in the regular season with the series being split. Neither team won on their home court with Tech winning the initial meeting at SWOSU, 79-72, and SWOSU winning at Tech later in the year, 73-65.
 
Tip-off for Saturday afternoon's game is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside Tucker Coliseum.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Golden Suns are 8-5 overall on the season and are 5-4 in the GAC. The Golden Suns are coming off an impressive 64-54 win at home against nationally-ranked Northwestern Oklahoma this past Thursday. In what was their second-straight game against a ranked opponent, the Golden Suns were able to hold NWOSU to almost 30 points off their scoring average and almost 20% off their shooting percentage. The win over a ranked team was the first for the Golden Suns since the 2019-2020 season when they beat then-ranked No. 23- Southeastern Oklahoma, 70-62.
 
At this point of the season, the Golden Suns average 71.6 ppg and rank fifth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Golden Suns rank eighth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 63.3 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Golden Suns are third in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .429 (340-of-792) and are limiting their opponents to a .348 mark (270-of-776) to rank second.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Golden Suns shoot at a clip of .298 (59-of-198) to rank ninth in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .302 (91-of-301) to rank sixth. From the free throw line, the Golden Suns shoot .681 as a team (192-of-282) to rank 10th.
 
Individually, the Golden Suns have three players averaging double figures and three more that are at least at 7.0 ppg. Pacious McDaniel currently leads the team in scoring at 21.8 ppg. Behind McDaniel in scoring is Alex Hill at 13.1 ppg. Dana Thompson is next and rounds out double-figure scoring at 10.3 ppg. Maisa Marcal, Hayleigh Wyrick, and Julie Wagner are all averaging at least 7.0 ppg at 9.6, 8.9 and 7.5 ppg, respectively.
 
Thompson leads the team in rebounding and is averaging 9.0 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Hill lead the team and are averaging 3.1 assists per game each.
 
Defensively, the Golden Suns are led in steals by Hill at 2.2 steals per game and in blocks by Thompson at 1.2 blocks per game.
 
The Golden Suns are coached by Dave Wilbers, who is in his 17th season as Tech. During his time at Tech, Wilbers has amassed a 350-126 overall record. Nine times, Wilbers has won 20 or more games at Tech and twice has won 30 or more. In terms of national rankings, a Wilbers-led team has been nationally-ranked at any point in a season 10 times. Among those, he has guided the Golden Suns to the top of the rankings on a pair of occasions during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
 

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SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Southwestern Oklahoma is 8-7 overall this season and are 5-4 in the GAC thus far. The Bulldogs are coming of a loss their last time out as they lost on the road at Harding this past Thursday, 79-72.
 
Statistically, the Bulldogs average 61.5 ppg and rank ninth in the GAC. On the defensive end of the court, the Bulldogs rank ninth in the league in scoring defense, giving up an average of 63.6 ppg. In terms of field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, the Bulldogs are 12th in the conference as they shoot at an overall clip of .357 (334-of-936) and limit their opponents to a .422 mark (328-of-778) to rank 12th.
 
From beyond-the-arc, the Bulldogs shoot at a clip of .308 (118-of-383) to rank eighth in the GAC while their opponents make three-pointers at a mark of .328 (88-of-268) to rank 10th. From the free throw line, the Bulldogs shoot .727 as a team (136-of-187) to rank eighth.
 
Individually, the Bulldogs have one player averaging double figures in scoring and are led by Averi Zinn and her 14.1 ppg. SWOSU also has two players averaging at least 7.0 ppg in Mason Jones at 9.6 ppg and Hailey Grant at 7.6 ppg.
 
Lainie Gooch is the team-leader in rebounding and is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game. In terms of assists, Zinn leads the team and is averaging 4.7 assists per game.
 
Defensively, the Bulldogs are led in steals by Zinn at 2.3 steals per game and in blocks by Rees Berkey at 0.5 blocks per game.
 
The Bulldogs are coached by Jeff Zinn, who is in his second season at Southwestern Oklahoma as head coach. His record at Southwestern Oklahoma is 16-26.