ADA – With a 64-53 victory over Oklahoma Baptist, the East Central University women's basketball team claimed the No. 7 seed at the 2017-18 Great American Conference Championship tournament, March 1-4 in Bartlesville, Okla.  The Tigers will face No. 2 Arkansas Tech, Thursday, March 1 at 2:15 p.m. at Bruin Fieldhouse.

2017-18 GAC Women's Basketball Bracket I 2017-18 GAC Basketball Championship Tournament Page

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The Tigers (10-16, 9-13 GAC) saw double-doubles from two players for the first time in the same game during the 2017-18 season.  Senior Devon Branch earned her third career double-double with 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.  Senior Aaliyah Blakley netted her fifth career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

The teams traded the first two shots on the game, before ECU started a 10-0 run over a five-minute span to push the advantage to 13-3.  The Bison (13-15, 8-14 GAC) garnered the final four points of the stanza to cut the deficit to 13-7.

The Tigers pushed the lead back to 11 in the first minute of the second stanza and kept the lead between 10-13 until the final shot of the quarter.  OBU hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to give ECU a 30-22 lead at the break.

The Tigers kept the advantage around 10 points for the first eight minutes of the third quarter.  In the remaining time, the Bison went on an 8-1 run to cut the deficit to 45-39.

OBU hit the first shot of the fourth stanza to cut the deficit to four (45-41) and the teams kept things close for the first six minutes of the quarter.  ECU then went on a 4-0 run to push the lead back to 11 (54-43), with 2:44 left to play.
The teams traded points the rest of the game, with ECU eventually earning the 64-53 victory.

After the win, the Tigers honored their three seniors: Alexa Adair, Aaliyah Blakley and Devon Branch, who were playing in their final game at the Kerr Activities Center.