Box Score (html)
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – After a one-year absence, Southwestern Oklahoma State returned to the Great American Conference Women's Basketball Championship title game by defeating East Central, 79-63, on Saturday from the Bruin Fieldhouse.
Freshman
Hayden Priddy built on Friday's 15-point, eight-assist performance against Southeastern Oklahoma State with a career-high 27 points on only 11 shots from the field. She went 7-for-11, 4-for-6 from the 3-point arc and made 9-of-11 free throws. She added seven rebounds and five assists against only one turnover.
Korina Chapman provided the bulk of SWOSU's 20-3 advantage between the two benches as she scored 12 points and grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds. In the second half alone, she collected 10 points and seven rebounds.
Hailey Tucker, the GAC Freshman of the Year, also reached double digits as she scored 11 points. She also pulled down seven rebounds.
Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs held the Tigers (11-17) to 37.9 percent shooting from the field. One day after allowing Southeastern Oklahoma State to make 12-of-28 3-point attempts, SWOSU stifled ECU from the outside as the Tigers hit just 2-of-21 3-point tries.
The tandem of Whitney Stotler and Jalyn Jackson tried their best to help the Tigers keep pace. Jackson scored 21 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for her second double-double of the tournament. She averaged 22.0 points and 15.0 rebounds and went 20-of-29 from the floor in the two games. Stotler scored a game-high 28 points. She averaged 21.5 points and shot 65.4 percent from the field between the two contests. Outside of Stotler and Jackson, the rest of the Tiger hit just 4-of-32 shots.
Southwestern Oklahoma State face regular season GAC Champion Arkansas Tech in Sunday's title game with the GAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line. SWOSU has appeared in three of the previous four title games, winning in 2012 and 2014 against Harding but losing to Arkansas Tech, in overtime, in 2013. For the first time in GAC history, ESPN3 will carry the broadcast, which tips at 3:30 p.m.
