ADA – On a night designed to say farewell to outgoing East Central University President John Hargrave, the women's basketball team gave him a great going-away present, with a 67-55 upset victory over No. 22 Arkansas Tech at the Kerr Activities Center.
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The win secured the Tigers (13-12, 12-9 GAC) the No. 5 seed at the Great American Conference Championship Tournament, March 2-5 in Bartlesville, Okla.
ECU saw double-digit scoring performances from three players, with junior
Devon Branch netting 16 and seniors
Whitney Stotler and
Jalyn Jackson each earning 12. Stotler led the team with seven rebounds, while adding three assists.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle, with no team leading by more than three points throughout. The Tigers went into the first break with an 18-15 advantage.
The battle continued through the second quarter, with the largest lead being four by ECU (26-22). The Golden Suns (20-5, 16-5 GAC) continued to fight and took a 26-28 lead with a minute left in the stanza. Junior Aaliyah Blakely then hit a three and the Tigers forced a turnover to give ECU a 31-28 lead at the break.
The Tigers came out ready to fight in the third quarter and used an 8-2 run to push the advantage to nine in the first five minutes. ATU countered with a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to three (42-39), but ECU scored the final five points of the stanza for a 47-39 lead.
The Tigers kept pushing and increased the run to 10-1 in the first three minutes for a 12-point advantage. The Golden Suns used a 7-2 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead to seven, but ECU quickly got the advantage back out to double digits. ATU was never able to get closer than six the rest of the game and the Tigers eventually claimed the 67-55 win.
ECU had a strong night shooting, with a 45.0 mark overall and a 45 percentage from three-point range, while holding ATU around 39 percent for the game. The Tigers were also strong on ball control, forcing 18 turnovers and netting just eight of their own.
The final game of the 2016-17 regular-season will take place Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. in the Kerr Activities Center when ECU welcomes Harding for Senior Day. The Tigers will honor their two seniors between games, with the six seniors on the men's team.
