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We all know Oklahoma roads can be pretty rough, but last week took it a bit too far.

Southeastern basketball came away with twinbill losses at Southwestern and Northwestern.

That knocked the Great American Conference standings way out of whack and made the cheese more binding.

Southeastern men dipped from first place to fourth and the women slipped to seventh.

The standings for the gals show Southern Nazarene and Northwestern with better conference records. Neither team is eligible for postseason competition. Why they are listed ahead of GAC teams this season may be just to confuse people looking at the standings.

If so, mission accomplished.

What it amounts to is that nine teams are playing for eight playoff spots. Southern Nazarene will be eligible for postseason play next year and Northwestern the year after.

I think.

THE LATEST GAC standings for the ladies show East Central leading with a 7-1 conference record and a 12-2 mark overall.

Ouachita Baptist is second at 6-1 and 11-2.

Harding (9-4) and Arkansas Tech (8-5) are tied for third at 5-2 and Southwestern (9-4) is next at 4-3.

Henderson State (8-5) is 3-4 in league play, Southeastern (5-9) is 3-5. Arkansas-Monticello (2-10) and Southern Arkansas (0-12) are 0-7 each.

Southern Nazarene (7-7) is 4-4 against GAC competition and Northwestern (4-9) is 3-4.

GAC STANDINGS for the men show a three-way tie for the top spot.

Harding (12-3), Arkansas Tech (8-5) and Southwestern (6-7) are knotted at 5-2 in conference play.

Southeastern (9-5) is next at 5-3 with Arkansas-Monticello (8-5), Henderson State (8-5) and Ouachita Baptist (7-6) tied at 3-4.

Southern Arkansas (6-7) is 2-5 in league action and East Central (5-9) is 2-6.

Northwestern (6-7) is 4-3 against GAC foes and Southern Nazarene (8-6) is 3-5.

LAST WEEK’S top performers revealed some excellent numbers.

For the ladies: Krystal Beachum of Henderson State and Roselis Silva of Arkansas Tech each scored 27 points in Thursday’s action.

Aminata Fall of Southern Nazarene and Destiny Smith of Henderson State each pulled down 17 rebounds.

Oumoul Thiam of Southern Nazarene knocked in 32 points to lead Saturday’s scoring.

Arielle Saunders of Harding led the way with 14 rebounds.

For the men: Kori Forge of Arkansas-Monticello had 33 points to lead Thursday’s scoring.

Andrew Ensley of Henderson State topped the chart with a dozen boards.

Jonathan Freeman of Northwestern had the high game of 30 points to lead Saturday’s action,

Southeastern’s Chris Roussell and Henderson State’s Ensley had 11 boards each.

COACH DARIN GROVER’S young ladies have two players scoring in double figures and another knocking on the door.

Bailey Welch is averaging 11.1 points and leads the team with 48 assists. She has started all 14 games and averages 31.6 minutes per outing.

Ronay English is scoring 10.8 points per game and averages 23.4 minutes.

Haley Schaefer is at 9.9 points and leads the team with 6.1 rebounds while playing 21 minutes per game.

Emily Williams is also closing in on double figures at 8.7 points and 4.7 boards in 21.6 minutes.

COACH KELLY GREEN’S men have three in double figures and two with more than eight points per game.

Chris Roussell leads the way with 15.9 points and 7.6 rebounds in 35.7 minutes per game.

Steven Kohli is next at 12.2 points and 6.6 boards in 31.7 minutes a game.

Mateus Oliveira is averaging 10.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 25.6 minutes.

Andris Misters scores 8.9 points and grabs 3.4 boards in 26.1 minutes while Travis Timmons averages 8.4 points and leads the team with 98 assists in 33 minutes per game.

STORM BASKETBALL returns to action Saturday when Southern Nazarene visits Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

The ladies are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start and the men will tip off at approximately 7:30.

Southeastern men will be trying to keep the home court unblemished and run the season record to 8-0 in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.