The OUAZ Women's Basketball squad is back to NAIA play this week, starting Thursday with a non-conference matchup with Park-Gilbert. Then, the Spirit will hit Golden State Athletic Conference play once against on Saturday, as they travel to Glendale to take on rival Arizona Christian on Saturday.

OUAZ has met Park once before, as they traveled to Gilbert for the season opener. The Spirt picked up an 83-66 win, the first win for Stephen Moss as head coach. That win was the third straight season-opening victory in program history.

The Spirit are looking for its first win in program history against Arizona Christian, as OUAZ is 0-4 all-time against the Firestorm. The Spirit played tough in the first matchup last season, as they led a good chunk of the game before ultimately falling 93-82.

The Spirit are not struggling to score this season, as they are averaging 71.9 points per game. It does not take a long look at the stats to see why, as OUAZ has four players averaging double-digit point totals per game (Natasa Radovic, Taylor Davis, Kirsten Shinske, Kate Sokolova).

Davis has been a very efficient player for the Spirt. Despite averaging 19.3 minutes per game, she is putting up 13.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest. She ranks 16th in the NAIA in field goal percentage (54.3%), and her 38 points against Westcliff on Nov. 30 is the third most in the NAIA this season.

Radovic finds herself ranked top 20 nationally in a couple of categories. She is 18th in the NAIA in rebounds per game (9.44), and eighth in offensive rebounds per game (4.22). Those stats rank fifth and second in the GSAC, respectively.

Kate Sokolova is ranked 21st nationally in 3PT field goals made per game. Her 2.63 converted per game is 3rd in the GSAC as well. Sokolova is averaging 12.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest.
The Spirit have been stout on defense as well. They have allowed only 591 points so far this season, which ranks 8th in the NAIA. That total is second in the GSAC, with Vanguard (548, fifth in NAIA) the only team in front of OUAZ.

Thursday's contest at Faith Arena is scheduled for 7pm MST. Coverage of the game will be available on the OUAZ Game Central portal and the NAIA Network for $7.95. The NAIA Network is available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV devices. Live stats will also be available through Game Central at portal.stretchinternet.com/ottawaaz.

Saturday's game at ACU is scheduled to tip-off at 5pm MST. Live video and stats for the matchup can be found at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/acu/.