They were unlikely heroes at a time – amid the nation’s Great Depression and added regional scourges of the Dust Bowl – when hope and inspiration was scarce. Sam Babb, the women’s basketball coach at tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, set out to build a championship team, and scoured the state to recruit the players he needed.

It begot a powerhouse that won 89 consecutive games from 1931-34, earning two AAU national championships and a North American title and giving the state and country a needed sliver of cheer. That, in an era when women’s sports frequently were dismissed as unhealthy and unladylike.

Author Lydia Reeder, the coach’s grandniece, recounts this uplifting story in a discussion of her new book Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory. The event is co-presented by Rainy Day Books.