The East Central University women's basketball team heads into the final two weeks of the 2015-16 regular season in seventh in the Great American Standings, where eight teams advance to the tournament.  This week the Tigers will travel to Southern Nazarene (Feb. 18/5:30 p.m.) and then host Northwestern Oklahoma State (Feb. 20/1 p.m.) in the final home game of the year.

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.

Senior Day/PinkOut
Saturday's game will be the annual senior day, where ECU will honor the men's basketball and athletic training student seniors between the men's and women's games.  The game is also a PinkOut sponsored by Mercy Hospital Ada and fans are encouraged to wear pink.

Scouting Southern Nazarene
The Crimson Storm are 5-16 overall and 4-14 in the GAC after falling in their last two outings.  SNU has a -9.0 scoring and -0.2 rebounding margin for the season.

Abby Boyd leads the Crimson Storm with 17.0 points per game, while adding 50 assists, 20 steals and shooting .377 from the field.  Adrienne Berry averages 10.0 points and 3.8 boards per game and is shooting .402 overall and .360 from beyond the arc.

The Series
After claiming a win earlier this season at home, the Tigers trail 13-17 in the all-time series with SNU.  The Crimson Storm have a better advantage when playing in Bethany, Okla., at 5-10.

ECU took the game at home this season 54-50, with the key difference coming at the charity stripe, where the Tigers tallied 17 to SNU's eight.

Junior Jalyn Jackson led ECU with one of her five double-doubles on the year with 13 points and rebounds, while adding two assists and four steals.  Sophomore Alexa Adair added 15 points and five rebounds.  Abby Boyd was the top producer for SNU with 15 points, while LaShabra Plunkett added 13 boards.

Scouting Northwestern
The Rangers, who have had a new interim coach for the past six games, are 2-22 overall and 0-18 in the GAC.

The Rangers have struggled at times to find their offensive stride, resulting in a -17.9 scoring and -8.6 rebounding margin for the year.  One of the biggest areas of difference is at the free throw line, where they make 9.8 per game and allow 15.1.

Kamera Bozeman is the team's leader, with 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, while shooting .581 overall and adding 30 blocks.

The Series
ECU holds a 27-11 lead in the all-time series with the Rangers, after winning the last five meetings.  That includes a 42-40 win on the road earlier this season.

Junior Jalyn Jackson earned a double-double in the game, with 16 points and 11 rebounds, including the game winning shot.  Sophomore Alexa Adair added 12 points and seven boards.  Deja Beechum led NWOSU in points, with nine, while Relina Johnson tallied seven points, eight boards, two blocks and two steals.

Mariah's Weekend
Sophomore Mariah Meyer had a strong weekend against Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello.  Meyer led the Tigers with 10.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, while shooting .471 from the floor.  Those numbers included a career high 13 points, four steals and five made field goals against SAU and seven rebounds against UAM.

Jackson Player of the Week
After helping ECU to a four-game winning streak and recording three-straight double-doubles, junior Jalyn Jackson has been named the GAC Player of the Week for Jan. 26.

Prior to the week, Jackson had averaged 5.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game on 43.8 percent shooting. In the three wins for the Tigers, she averaged 13.0 points, 11.7 rebounds and made 17-of-26 shots. The Oklahoma City, Okla., native also hit the game-winning basket and tallied six steals against Northwestern Oklahoma State.

Career Weekend for the Tigers
All but two players on the active roster this season recorded at least one new career high over the weekend, with sophomore Aalyiah Blakely leading the way with four.  She reset marks for points (17), rebounds (9), steals (3) and field goals (6).  Junior Jalyn Jackson also added three career-bests, by recording 10 points in both of ECU's victories on five made shots and adding three blocks against SWOSU.

Blakely On the Court
The Tigers got a boost from the bench at the break, 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 over 10 points and around four 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).

Up Next
The Tigers will hit the road for the final week of the regular season, with one of the toughest road trips in the GAC.  ECU will battle with the top two teams in the GAC standings, Harding (Feb. 25/5:30 p.m.) and Arkansas Tech (Feb. 27/1 p.m.).