The OUAZ women's basketball team put together a historic stretch over the last seven days, as they picked up two wins and put together a couple of fantastic individual performances. Now the Spirit get a chance to continue the momentum this week.
The Spirit will ride a three-game win streak into its matchup with Vanguard on Thursday, then will head to San Diego Christian to take on the Hawks on Saturday. OUAZ will have the opportunity to push its Golden State Athletic Conference record over .500 for the first time in program history.
OUAZ will enter the contests with the reigning national player of the week. The NAIA named Natasa Radovic its Player of the Week on Tuesday after her outstanding performances against Park-Gilbert and Arizona Christian. Over the two game stretch, Radovic averaged 26.5 points, 16.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 5.5 steals. Her shooting was excellent, as she shot 53.1% from the field and converted on all 11 of her free throw attempts.
Radovic's 38 point, 18 rebound performance put her into the program record books. Those 18 boards tied a school record for most in a game, and the 38 points is the second best single-game performance.
Radovic would have had the most points in a single game in school history if not for Kirsten Shinske. Shinkse cashed in 41 points against the Firestorm, giving her the program record. She also could have been a player of the week candidate, as she had 12 points and eight rebounds against Park last Tuesday.
The scoring barrage by Radovic and Shinkse in Glendale pushed OUAZ even more into the national spotlight. Those efforts, along with Taylor Davis's 38 points on Nov. 30, give the Spirt three of the top five individual game scoring performances.
History can still be made this week for OUAZ, as they try to defeat Vanguard for the first time ever. The Spirit lost both matchup to the Lions last season, but kept the final matchup close before ultimately falling 60-50 on Feb. 2. Vanguard enters the week ranked 5th nationally, making it the third top-five team OUAZ has faced in its last five NAIA contests.
The Spirit have another three-game win streak going for them, as they own a 3-0 all-time record over San Diego Christian. OUAZ picked up its first-ever GSAC win over the Hawks in a 69-64 final on Jan. 5, 2019. They also picked up its second GSAC win over the same squad on Jan. 21, 2019.
Thursday's game at Vanguard is scheduled for 6:30pm MST, and Saturday's tipoff at San Diego Christian is set for 2pm MST. Live video and stats for both games can be found at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ottawaaz/#live
