For the fourth-straight year the East Central University women's basketball team will be making the trip up to Bartlesville, Okla., to participate in the 2015 Great American Conference Tournament, March 5-8 at Bruin Fieldhouse.  The Tigers finished as the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face No. 5 Arkansas-Monticello, Thursday, March 5 at 8 p.m. in the quarterfinal round.

Game Notes

The Broadcast
ECU's radio home for Tigers basketball in 2014-15 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 Arkansas-Monticello
The Cotton Blossoms finished the regular-season 13-12 overall and 11-9 in the GAC, after going 2-3 in their last five games.  UAM has close numbers in most statistical categories, including a +1.6 scoring and -1.0 rebound margin for the season.  However, they do have a lead in free throws, where they have made 345 and only allowed their opponents to attempt 382.

The Cotton Blossoms have three players that are averaging double-digits in the point's column and account for 61% of the teams scoring, 59% of the rebounds and 50% of the assists.  Jordan Goforth leads the team in all categories with 17.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while added 63 assists.  Nikki Mullen contributes 11.2 points and 3.2 boards per game, with 40 assists and Nelsha Peterson adds 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, with 40 assists.

Against the Cotton Blossoms
The Tigers took both regular-season meetings between the teams by an average of three points per game.

Senior Erin Walling had one of her better series, with 14.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, while shooting .440 from the field.  Senior Janee Garza added 12.0 points, while senior Dilan Webster contributed 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Nikki Mullen led the charge for UAM, with 15.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.  Tori Nichols tallied 10.5 points and 16 rebounds per game, while Jordan Gorforth netted 10.0 points and 5.5 boards per game.

The Series
The Tigers are currently on a six-game winning streak over the Cotton Blossoms, moving the all-time series record to 7-4.  This will be the first meeting between the teams at the conference tournament.

GAC Honors
The Tigers saw three players honored by the rest of the GAC coaches, as they were named to the All-GAC teams for 2014-15.  ECU was led by senior Dilan Webster, who earned her third-straight honor as a member of the All-GAC Second Team.  Webster had claimed All-GAC Honorable Mention honors in 2013-14 and second team accolades in 2012-13.

Seniors Taylor Fischer and Erin Walling picked up the other two honors for the Tigers, as a member of the All-GAC Honorable Mention team, the first post season honors for both seniors.

Fourth Time To GAC Tourney
The Tigers have been fortunate enough to earn a spot in every GAC Tournament to date, but have just a 2-3 record in those games.  The last two seasons, ECU has advanced to the semifinals, but has not made the championship game.  UAM will be the fifth team from the GAC that the Tigers will face in the tournament, with the only team to be played more than once being Southwestern Oklahoma State.

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 games as the first player off the bench she has increased her output to 9.4 points and 5.2 boards per game.

Rogers Making Noise
Freshman Kendal Rogers may have seen action in all 24 of the Tigers games this season, but she made the most of her minutes against No. 15 Arkansas Tech.  The Davis, Okla., native garnered a career-high 10 points, including six free throws and added four rebounds an assist and a block.

Tigers Leaving Their Mark
The Tigers are ranked in the top-30 in three categories and have two players ranked in one category individually in the top-100.  ECU is making the most noise in the turnover column, as they are ranked No. 2 with just 10.8 turnovers per game.  The Tigers are also No. 16 in assist/turnover ratio (1.14) and No. 25 in turnover margin (3.92).

Senior Erin Walling is ranked No. 49 in ATR (1.72), while fellow senior Dilan Webster is No. 89 in blocks per game (1.42).  

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 10.8 points and 2.7 boards per game.

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 1,248.  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.

Senior Erin Walling will be looking to become the second player this season to earn a spot on the 1,000 Point Club, as she has 949 career points heading into this weekend's action.  If she joins the club it will be the first time since the 2003-04 season that the Tigers had two players enter the elite list in the same season when Stormy Griffith and Leslie Sthores made the list.

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 37 this season to move her own school record to 163 career blocks.