The East Central University women's basketball team will play the first of two battles with the other Tigers from the Great American Conference, Saturday, Jan. 10 when they welcome Ouachita Baptist for a 1 p.m. tip-off at the Kerr Activities Center.

Game Notes

The Broadcast
ECU's radio home for Tigers basketball in 2012-13 is Ada's KXFC, 105.5, FM 'The X-Factor'. Kenny Morrison returns to broadcast the games for his 18th season. Morrison, a 1987 ECU graduate, spent two seasons doing color prior to taking over the play-by-play duties during the 1997-98 season.  

The Coverage
Fans who can't be at the game can find links to live stats, live video (if available) and the KXFC radio broadcast on ECUTigers.com.  Go to the men's basketball schedule page. Fans can listen to the radio broadcast online or through the FREE KXFC App available in ITunes, Google Stores where apps are sold and www.kxfcradio.com.

Scouting Ouachita Baptist
OBU is 4-9 overall and 0-6 in the GAC after falling in its last two games.  Ouachita has a -8.0 scoring and -5.8 rebounding margin for the season and trails in overall shooting percentage, but holds an advantage in shots made beyond the arc per game.  OBU is making 38.0 percent of its overall shots compared to 41.4 percent by the opposition.  While they are also trailing .330 to .349 in three-point shooting percentage, they are averaging 7.5 triples per game to 5.8 by their opponents.

OBU has two players that are averaging double-digits in the point's column and two more that are netting around eight per contest.  The quartet accounts for 58 percent of the shots taken and 54 percent of the triples.  Katie Kapler is the leader with 11.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, while shooting .554 from the field, .438 from beyond the arc and adding 21 assists.  Breanna Harris adds 11.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while shooting .406 and .357 from beyond the arc.

Against the Tigers
Last season, ECU went 2-0 against OBU, extending their winning streak to four games against Ouachita.  East Central earned the wins with a +9.5 scoring and +15.0 rebounding margin and by out-shooting OBU .364 to .288.

Senior Dilan Webster leads the returners with 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in the series.  Senior Ashleigh Kelman-Poto also had a strong showing in the games, with 8.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

The top returners for OBU is Alexis Sharpe, with 6.5 points and 2.5 boards per game, while adding three assists and steals.  Breanna Harris contributed six points and five rebounds in just one the meetings.

The Series
With the season sweep of OBU in 2013-14, ECU moved the all-time series record to 10-4.  ECU has been the victor in the last four games, including three-straight at home.

Coming off the Bench
Most players get excited and do better when they move from an off the bench role to a starting spot, but the opposite has been true for senior Ashleigh Kelman-Poto.  She has created a great spark coming off the bench for the Tigers.  Kelman-Poto started the first five games of the season and was averaging 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, but in the last seven games as the first player off the bench she has increased her output to 11.2 points and 5.8 boards per game.

Tigers Leaving Their Mark
Along with having one of the best records in the NCAA at 10-2, the Tigers are ranked in the top-30 in five other categories and have two players ranked in one category individually in the top-50.  ECU is making the most noise in the turnover column, as they are ranked No. 1 with just 10.0 turnovers per game.  The Tigers are also No. 2 in assist/turnover ratio (1.39), No. 14 in personal fouls (15.0), No. 9 in turnover margin (6.91) and No. 20 is scoring defense (57.3).

Senior Erin Walling is the top individual ranked No. 32 in ATR (2.12), while fellow senior Taylor Fischer is No. 37 in the same category (2.06).  

Resetting the Record Books
Senior Dilan Webster may be the leading blocker for the Tigers, but she is also making a mark for herself in the scoring columns.  In the Dec. 6 game against Northwestern, Webster became the 13th player at ECU to earn 1,000 points, currently with 1,074.  She is also among five active players in the Great American Conference that have over 800 points and become the fifth player in GAC history to hit the milestone.

Taylor Shaking it Up
Senior Taylor Fischer has moved into her starting role for ECU with strong numbers compared to a season ago.  In 2013-14, Fischer averaged 4.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game and so far in 2014-15 she is netting 11.3 points and 3.3 boards per game.

Fischer Player of the Week
Senior Taylor Fischer has earned the first honor of the season for the Tigers, being named the Great American Conference Player of the Week for Dec. 8.  Fischer pushed the Tigers to a 4-0 mark in the GAC as she averaged 17.5 points per game in victories against Southwestern Oklahoma State and Northwestern Oklahoma State last week. Against the Bulldogs, she scored 16 points with three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Against the Rangers, she scored 19 points and she made five 3-point field goals.

First Game/First Win
First-year head coach Matt Cole started out his head coaching career the best way a coach can, with a win in his first game when the Tigers defeated Rogers State 57-54 (Nov. 15, 2014).

Already Atop the Leader Board
Senior Dilan Webster has been a force to deal with on the blocks, as she became the ECU all-time leading blocker before her junior season (2013-14).  Webster tallied 30 more blocks a year ago and has 20 this season to move her own school record to 146 career blocks.

Up Next
The Tigers will hit the road for a key GAC weekend at No. 18 Arkansas Tech and No. 22 Harding.  All three teams are currently undefeated in league action.  ECU will first face Harding, Jan. 15 (5:30 p.m.) and then ATU, Jan. 17 (1 p.m.).

Up Next in Kerr Activities Center
After just a week away, the Tigers will return home for two conference games.  ECU will host Southeastern, Thursday, Jan. 22 in the annual Blackout the Power of the Storm game at 5:30 p.m. and then Northwestern Jan. 24 at 1 p.m.