ADA, Okla. – The East Central University women's basketball team bounced back from last week's Arkansas road trip with a 50-27 win over Arkansas-Monticello Thursday night.
 
"Great Defensive effort to hold them to 27 points," Interim Head Coach Heather Hurt said. "Everyone played their part in guarding ad rebounding. Very proud of our effort to play defense and execute offensively.
 
This is the first game in three seasons ECU has held an opponent under 50 points.
 
The Tigers forced a low shooting affair on UAM as the Blossoms made just two out of their 10 field goal attempts in the first quarter and three of 14 shooting in the second. Not much scoring came from either squad in the opening quarter, but ECU would be the first to reach double-digits on the board, while UAM was held scoreless for nearly four minutes. At the end of the half, the Tigers led 23-11.
 
Out of the break, ECU built an 8-0 scoring run through the first seven minutes to pull away 31-14. The Blossoms were able to put a few points on the board in the remaining three minutes, but that did not stop the Tigers from continuing to push back. UAM cut ECU's lead back down to 12 at 38-26 with under six minutes left to play, but the Tigers took care of business the rest of the way for a 50-27 victory over the Blossoms.
 
Mackenzie Crusoe led ECU in double-figures with 18 points. She went 6-for-14 from the field, including four coming from beyond the arc. She also added a team-high eight boards for the fifth time this season.
 
Izzy Cummins was next with eight points shooting 3-for-8 overall, while Emma Epperly was close behind with seven going 3-for-5 from the floor.
 
The East Central University women's basketball team will be back in action at home Saturday, Feb. 11 to take on Southern Arkansas University at 1 p.m.