ADA, Okla. – The East Central University women's basketball finished up their three-game home stand on a high note with a 72-61 victory over the visiting Ouachita Baptist University Tigers Saturday evening.
 
The win improves ECU to 7-10 overall and 4-9 in conference play.
 
"We bounced back from Thursday and overcame adversity and showed a lot of toughness," Interim Head Coach Heather Hurt said. "We guarded their players and executed the defense plan really well. Our most complete game this semester."
 
Kennedy Cummings got the scoring going for ECU with the first bucket of the night to take the early lead. But the remainder of the quarter turned into a back-and-forth battle with five ties and two lead changes before a jumper from Tatum Havens settled the score 17-15 in favor of ECU at the end of the period.
 
ECU took their biggest lead of the opening half after a layup from Izzy Cummins put the orange Tigers up 31-24 with under three minutes until halftime. Ouachita answered back with an 8-1 run to tie it up 32-32 at the break.
 
The third quarter saw Ouachita go on another 8-1 scoring run to take their largest lead of seven points (40-33) three minutes into the period. But ECU dug deep and rallied for an 11-2 scoring run to reclaim the lead 44-42. Ouachita managed to make two more shots from the field to lead by one going into the final stanza 47-46.
 
ECU's offense came to life in the fourth quarter as a three-pointer from Ashlyn Evans-Thompson sparked a 16-5 scoring run to give the orange Tigers a double-digit lead of 62-52. Ouachita fought back to within seven a couple of times in the final minutes, but with ECU shooting a game-best 64 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, the lead proved to be too great, and the orange Tigers walked away with a 72-61 win over Ouachita.
 
"Kennedy Cummings gave a tremendous effort on defense, and Emily Wilson knocked down shots," Hurt said. "Overall, great effort ad toughness to get the win."
 
Cummings and Wilson led the Tigers scoring 15 and 14 points respectively. Cummings went 3-for-6 from the field and 9-for-10 at the free throw line while Wilson went 5-for-10 from the floor including 4-of-6 from the three-point line.
 
The East Central University women's basketball team will hit the road to Arkansas Thursday, Feb. 2 to face Arkansas Tech University at 5:30 p.m.