The East Central University women's basketball team will return to action after taking a week off for finals, Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. vs. Texas A&M-Commerce at the Kerr Activities Center.

Game Notes

The Broadcast
ECU's radio home for Tigers basketball in 2015-16 is Ada's KXFC, 105.5, FM 'The X-Factor'. Kenny Morrison returns to broadcast the games for his 19th 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 women'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 Texas A&M-Commerce
The Lions are 4-5 overall and have yet to play a Lone Star Conference game this season.  TAMCU has already faced three teams from the Great American Conference in 2015-16, going 1-2.  The Lions defeated Southeastern (80-60) and fell to Ouachita Baptist (64-66) and Southern Arkansas (74-76).

TAMCU has a +4.2 scoring and +3.9 rebounding margin for the year.  While the Lions trail the opposition in overall (.387/.412) and three-point (.301/.307) shooting, they have a clear advantage at the charity stripe.  TAMCU has gone 122-of-170 (.718) for the year, while holding its opponents to a 75-of-114 (.658) mark.  That is a difference of 13.6 to 8.3 free throws made per game.

The Lions have a well balanced offensive attack this season, with no players averaging double-digits in the scoring column.  TAMCU has three players at nine points and two more at eight points per game.

Shomari Harris leads the team with 9.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while adding 30 assists.  Amari Jones is an strong all-around player, averaging 9.8 points and 9.6 boards per game, garnering 13 blocks and shooting .407 from the field.  Khala Riley also adds 9.3 points per game, while shooting .412 overall and .400 from beyond the arc.

The Series
Wednesday's game will be the 22nd in the all-time series, but the teams have not faced each other since Dec. 16, 2014.  ECU currently holds a 13-8 lead in the series after winning the last five meetings.  The Tigers are 6-3 when playing in Ada.

Blakely Making Here Debut
The Tigers will get a boost from the bench this week, as sophomore Aalyiah Blakely has been cleared to play after sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer rules.  Blakely came to ECU for the Spring 2015 semester from Oklahoma Baptist.  She saw limited action in just four games with the Bison.  Blakely is a native of Ada, Okla., where she helped the Cougars to a state tournament appearance as a senior.

Adair Making Moves
Sophomore Alexa Adair might have played in all 27 games for ECU as a freshman, but she was behind a group of five seniors and averaged just 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.  In 2015-16 she has been forced into a leading role for the Tigers and has responded, averaging 17.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.  Adair even set career highs in the scoring column in two-straight games, with 20 against Southern Arkansas and then 28 against Arkansas-Monticello.  She has also set new career highs for rebounds (10), field goals (9), three-point field goals (6) and free throws (6).

Rebuilding Season
After losing five seniors to graduation, the Tigers are in a rebuilding year and have been picked to finish 10th in the 2015-16 GAC Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches.

Arkansas Tech was picked to finish first and Harding second.  Southwestern was third, Arkansas-Monticello fourth, Southeastern fifth, Henderson State sixth, Ouachita Baptist seventh, Northwestern eighth and Oklahoma Baptist ninth.  The two teams below ECU were Southern Arkansas (11th) and Southern Nazarene (12th).

Playing Against Strong Competition
While Saturday's game will be the first official game of the year, the Tigers played an exhibition game against Oklahoma State.  ECU fell 49-122, but the Cowgirls shot an unusually high 73.9 percent from the field and 84.6 from beyond the arc.

ECU was led by sophomore Alexa Adair who tallied 14 points, while junior Tori Huff added nine and junior Whitney Stotler eight.

Up Next
The Tigers will get a two weeks off before returning to the court for the final game of the 2015 portion of the season, when they host Central Oklahoma, Wednesday, Dec. 30 at noon.  The game will be the opening game of the day at the Kerr Activities Center, with the finals of the Bertha Teague Mid America Classic to follow.  Admission will be part of the gate for the Mid America Classic for the day.