Ada —
East Central University’s Lady Tigers trailed most of the game, but found a way to make plays down the stretch and come away with a 77-72 Great American Conference basketball victory over Ouachita Baptist Thursday night on Wayne Cobb Court inside the Kerr Activities Center.
ECU, which improved to 5-14 on the season and 3-6 in the GAC, trailed the entire second half until junior guard Jourdan Clark tied the contest up at 72-all on a pair of free shots with 1:42 remaining.
A technical foul on OBU’s A’Laeshia Adams on a tie up with 1:16 left led to Ashley Robison knocking down the first of two free throws. Though she missed the second, the Lady Tigers got the ball back with 1:07 left off a Taylor Fischer steal.
Though ECU took a 50-36 pounding on the backboards, it attacked the offensive glass hard after two missed shots resulted in rebounds by Kodi Morrison and Robison to keep the possession alive.
Clark was finally fouled with 18 seconds remaining and sank both charity tosses for a 75-72 Lady Tiger lead. OBU attempted a desperation 3-point jumper, but Fanta Toure came away with the rebound, was fouled and sealed it with two free throws with eight seconds to go to close the deal.
“It was incredible the way our girls persevered. We trailed practically the whole game and found a way to win,” said ECU head coach Kent Franz. “We made some plays down the stretch, got some stops on defense and made free throws when we needed to. We played smart down the stretch. We haven’t grown up yet, but apparently we’re trying.”
Toure had a big night off the bench for the victorious Lady Tigers as she poured in a game-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 free throws to go with six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a pair of blocked shots.
Fourteen of Toure’s points came in the second half and Clark notched 12 of her 16 points in the final 20 minutes.
Clark followed also collected six boards, two steals and an assist. Morrison finished with 15 points and a pair of 3-pointers and Fischer, a freshman guard, had perhaps one of her most outstanding efforts with 10 points, including two treys, and a game-leading six assists in a reserve role.
Freshman Erin Walling knocked down a pair of big 3-pointers in finishing with eight points for ECU and Dilan Webster contributed six points.
Though Robison finished with only four points, including a 3-pointer, she did snatch a game-high 13 rebounds, including five off the offensive glass to go with a blocked shot.
ECU’s defensive pressure helped force OBU into 22 turnovers for the game as the hosts ended with only half as much at 11.
The Lady Tigers had a short-lived 17-16 first-half lead, their only advantage of the first half, off a 3-point jumper from Walling with 7:59 to go before the break.
OBU had a 30-26 halftime edge and eventually built up a 12-point lead (63-51) with just over eight minutes left.
However, ECU relentlessly chipped away and closed the game with a 26-9 run.
Free-throw shooting proved to be big for the hosts as they were 19-of-26 for the game (73.1 percent).
ECU won despite hitting just 38.5 percent from the floor overall. The hosts did connect on 33.3 percent of their long-range tries (8-of-24). OBU hit at a 44.1 percent pace from the field overall, but was only 4-of-22 (18.2 percent) outside the arc. The visitors converted only 8-of-14 free-throw tries (57.1 percent).
ECU quickly gets back into action on Saturday by entertaining Henderson State at 2 p.m. in the Kerr Center in Ada.
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