ADA – The East Central University women's basketball team earned its first season sweep of a Great American Conference opponent for the season in its first try, with a 57-49 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State at the Kerr Activities Center.

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The Tigers (12-5, 8-3 GAC) saw scoring from seven players, with senior Dilan Webster leading the team with 18 points and seven rebounds, while senior Taylor Fischer contributed 13 points.  Senior Erin Walling led the team with eight boards and added seven points and five assists.

"I am happy that we got the win today," said head coach Matt Cole.  "We had some difficulty scoring baskets in the second half, combined with Northwestern really come at us." 

The opening two minutes saw both team make their first two shots, but it was ECU that took control of the game over the next 11 minutes.  The Tigers used a 12-4 run to take a 23-8 lead over the Rangers (6-11, 5-6 GAC), with 7:15 left to play. 

The teams then traded baskets over the next four minutes before NWOSU tried to make a final push in the last 3:30 of the half.  However, they were only able to put together a 4-2 run, which gave ECU a 36-21 lead at the intermission.

The Rangers came out ready to fight in the second half and went on a 16-4 run in the first nine minutes to cut the deficit to three (40-37).  The Tigers countered with a 9-2 run of their own over the next four minutes, but saw the lead back the just three a minute later (46-43). 

ECU kept the advantage between three-to-five points for the next four minutes and then buckled down and used a 7-2 run in the remaining time to earn a 57-49 win.

Free throw shooting was a key to the victory for the Tigers, as they went 19-of-21 for the game and allowed NWOSU to make 18 attempts, but they made only nine.  The Rangers were also held without a three-point shot for the 40 minutes, while ECU went 4-of-9 from three-point range.

The Tigers will now get a week off before their next outing.  ECU will travel to face Southwestern Oklahoma State, Saturday, Jan. 31 at 1 p.m. in Weatherford, Okla.

"We look forwards to a week off and getting to work in practice on our weaknesses and healing up a few of our nagging injuries," added Cole.