ADA, Okla. – East Central hit 12 three-pointers in its 71-63 win over Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday at Kerr Activities Center. And after a late Bison surge that pulled the game to within four points, the Tigers got a few stops and scored a few baskets of their own to preserve the win.
With the defeat, paired with Southeastern's win over Northwestern, OBU's season came to an end with a 14-14 record and 10-12 mark in the GAC.
Kalifa Ford led the green and gold scoring 33 of the team's points 63 points. She also added 15 rebounds for her 13
th double-double of the year. After that,
Payton Taylor chipped in with seven while
Madison Chambers scored a half-dozen.
In the first, both teams didn't shoot well as the host Tigers held a slim 18-15 advantage by quarter's end. OBU shot 31 percent while ECU made 37.5 percent of its shots.
The green and gold got out to a 4-2 lead after a layup from Ford and a couple minutes later, Taylor swished through a three from the left wing to make the tally 9-7. Taylor added another three at 2:47 before the hosts hit a long ball of their own to make it 18-15.
Second-quarter action saw East Central beat the OBU zone and make four of its six attempts from deep. A 10-2 run in the final 2:39 helped the Tigers go up eleven, 39-28, at the break. Mackenzie Crusoe and Kate Ogle each made threes during that stretch.
After halftime, ECU held its advantage in comfortable fashion. In fact, in the third, the closest OBU got was eight points after two free throws from
Andreja Peciuraite with less than a second left.
In the final period, the Bison defense got some stops and allowed them to pull to within four. At the 3:50 mark, freshman
Jill Leslie drained a three from the top of the key to make it 61-57. Unfortunately, OBU's next three possessions resulted in missed shots.
On the other side, the Tigers scored on their trio of possessions including a three from Ogle at the 1:50 mark.
