BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Trailing early in the fourth quarter, East Central clamped down on Harding’s offense and rallied for a 62-48 win in Friday’s second Great American Conference Women’s Basketball Championship quarterfinal from Bruin Fieldhouse.
Down 46-45, the Tigers (11-16) went on a 17-0 run over the next six minutes to lock up only their third win in 18 games this season in which they entered the fourth quarter tied or trailing. Jalyn Jackson, Whitney Stotler and Alexa Adair combined to score all 23 of ECU’s fourth-quarter points. Defensively, ECU held Harding (17-10) to just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting. For the game, the Tigers held the Lady Bisons to their lowest field-goal percentage of the season, 29.1 percent
Jackson finished with a career-high 23 points to go along with 12 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Stotler added 15 points and the duo combined to hit 16-of-21 from the floor and Adair chipped in with 12 points and six assists to help ECU become the first No. 7 seed to win a game at the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships.
Harding suffered its first quarterfinal loss in its five appearance at the GAC Championships. Sydney Layock, a First-Team All-GAC selection and last year’s Championship MVP, led the Lady Bisons with 13 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.
East Central will take on Southwestern Oklahoma State in Saturday’s first women’s semifinal, set for 5:45 PM on GACSportsNetwork.com with the Tigers eyeing their first-ever trip the GAC title game. The Lady Bulldogs won both regular-season contests, 65-49 at home on January 14 and 74-71 in Ada on February 11.