After a break for the holidays, the East Central University women's basketball team will return to action, Wednesday, Dec. 30 at the Kerr Activities Center.  The Tigers will welcome Central Oklahoma for a noon game that will be the matinee for the championship games of the Bertha Teague Mid America Classic, with the admission part of the tournament package.

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 Central Oklahoma
The Bronchos are 8-2 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, with their last game coming Dec. 19 with a loss at Northeastern State (61-74).  UCO has already faced three members of the Great American Conference, earning wins over Southern Nazarene (64-62), Northwestern (72-65) and Southeastern (68-57).

The Bronchos are a high scoring team compared to ECU, as they average 73.2 points per game and have a +6.2 scoring margin for the year.  As a team, UCO has a strong shooting percentage at .418, while holding the opposition to a .374 mark.

The Bronchos have three players that average over 10 points per game, with McKenzie Solberg leading the way with 16.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.  Solberg is making 49.1 percent of her overall shots and 32.4 percent of those from beyond the arc, while adding 22 assists and 19 steals.  Marley Anderson contributes 10.3 points and 3.7 boards per game, while shooting .471 overall and .500 from three-point range.  The final member of the trio is Julia Mason, with 10.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

The Series
UCO currently holds a 21-13 advantage in the all-time series after winning the last 12 meetings.  The Tigers have done better at home, with an 8-8 record.  This is the second-straight season for the teams to battle since splitting from the Lone Star Conference.  The Bronchos earned a 51-60 victory in the first meeting (Dec. 31, 2014) in Edmond.

Stotler Stepping Up
Junior Whitney Stotler has become a strong force in the paint for the Tigers this season.  She is second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg) and shooting percentage (.407).  Stotler has also been a thorn in the side of the opposition, collecting 13 steals, the most for ECU and ranking second in the GAC.

Blakely On the Court
The Tigers got a boost from the bench last week, as sophomore Aalyiah Blakely was cleared to play after sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer rules.    In her first game for ECU she tallied seven points, five rebounds and added an assist.

Blakely came to the Tigers in 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 15.9 points and 5.1 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 another week off before their next outings, when Harding (Jan. 7) and Arkansas Tech (Jan. 9) come to town to respark the GAC portion of the season.  Thursday, Jan. 7 vs. the Bisons is set for 5:30 p.m., while Saturday's game against the Golden Suns will start at 1 p.m.