The final week of the 2015-16 regular season sees the East Central University women's basketball team on the road against two of the top teams in the Great American Conference.  The Tigers will first battle Harding, Thursday, Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m. in Searcy, Ark.  ECU will then face the 2016 GAC regular-season champion, No. 14 Arkansas Tech, Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m.

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 Harding
The Bisons are 15-9 overall and 13-7 in the league after dropping their last two games.  While Harding has a +5.8 scoring margin, they only have a +0.7 rebounding margin and are close in shooting percentage (.397/.392).  Where the Bisons seem to be making up the difference is at the free throw line where they average 16.1 per game and allow just 12.8.

Harding has three players that are averaging double-digit point totals this season.  Sydney Layrock leads the team with 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while shooting .414 from the floor.  A'ndrea Haney adds 13.6 points and 5.0 boards and shoots .413.  Lundon Williams nets 10.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, while adding 90 assists.

The Series
With the win early this season at the Kerr Activities Center, the Tigers moved closer to even in the all-time series that dates back to 1998, with a 7-8 mark.  However, when playing in Searcy, ECU is just 1-6.

In the 61-50 win Jan. 7, the Tigers had a strong shooting night, hitting 45.1 percent of their shots, while the Bisons made just 32.7 percent.  Sophomore Alexa Adair led ECU with 15 points, sophomore Aalyiah Blakely added 14 points and junior Jalyn Jackson netted eight points and rebounds.

Lundon Williams was the top producer for Harding, with 16 points, three rebounds and three steals.  Sydney Layrock added 15 points and three boards.

Scouting Arkansas Tech
The Golden Suns claimed the 2016 GAC regular season title last weekend and moved to 21-3 overall and 19-1 in the GAC.  ATU is very strong at home, with an 11-0 record for the season in Tucker Coliseum.  The Golden Suns are not only winning, they are winning big.  ATU has a +21.3 scoring and +6.5 rebounding margin for the year.  They are also out-shooting the opposition .485 to .375 overall.

The Golden Suns have just two players that are averaging over 10 points per game, making it a well balanced offensive threat.  Fatima Adams leads the team with 21.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, while shooting .583.  Anissa Pounds adds 12.3 points and 3.0 boards per game and shoots .468 overall and .426 from three-point range.

The Series
The Tigers and ATU have meet on 18 previous occasions, with the Golden Suns holding a 7-11 lead in the series.  The series is defiantly swayed in favor of ATU on the road, at 1-7.

ECU played a strong game Jan. 9 when the Golden Suns were in Ada, falling 52-64.  The Tigers played even with ATU for three quarters, with the Golden Suns pulling away in the third.  Sophomore Alexa Adair led the team with 11 points, sophomore Tori Huff added nine and sophomore Aalyiah Blakely netted nine points and five rebounds.

Making the Tournament
With the win over Northwestern (Feb. 20), the Tigers claimed a spot in their fifth-straight GAC Championship Tournament.  ECU will have to wait until the end of this week's action to find out their seed an opponent for the first round of the tournament, Friday, March 4 in Bartlesville, Okla.

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).