Box Score (html)
ADA, Okla. – Hailey Tucker scored a game-high 30 points, her second 30-point performance in the past three games, to pace her Lady Bulldog squad in a 74-71 victory over East Central on Thursday night at the Kerr Activities Center.
SWOSU ended the first half on a 16-4 run, turning a late deficit into a 38-31 lead at the break. The teams opened up the scoring in the third quarter, but SWOSU again extended their lead and built a 65-55 lead after three, giving them enough cushion to hold off the Tigers.
The Lady Bulldogs scored just nine points in the fourth quarter, but still had a 10-point lead with 4:51 to play as Tucker scored her 30th point of the game on a drive to the basket. What followed was an 8-0 run by the Tigers over a three-minute span before
Hayden Priddy found
Janae Coffee for a lay-in that put SWOSU up 73-69 with 1:44 to play.
Morgan Vogt hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:02 to play, making it 74-69 SWOSU before an ECU basket on their next possession made it a one possession game. The Tigers got three attempts at a game-tying three-pointer, but Alexis Adair was off the mark on each attempt, allowing SWOSU to get out of town with their first win in Ada since 2013.
Tucker finished with her second straight double-double, totaling 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting while pulling down 11 rebounds in her third straight game of playing the full 40 minutes.
Janae Coffee also posted a double-double, her fifth in the last six games, by scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
Jennifer Williams had 10 points of the bench, but the Lady Dawgs were outscored 33-to-17 by ECU's reserves.
"I'm proud of the way my team handled some adversity that was thrown at them tonight," SWOSU Head Coach
Kelsi Musick said. "We have to be able to finish better, but my girls handled what was thrown at them tonight and it motivated them and they got the win. I think it's huge to get a road win because we have to win some of these games down the stretch if we want to finish near the top of the conference."
SWOSU (14-8, 9-6 GAC) remains tied for third in the GAC standings heading into a matchup with Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
