WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Women's Basketball overcame a 12-point third quarter deficit and nearly had overtime against East Central on Thursday before a last-second shot from East Central spoiled those chances. The Lady Bulldogs went on to fall 53-51 to the Tigers in the final home game of the season.
The Lady Dawgs drop to 13-14 on the season and 10-11 in conference play. They'll close out the regular season Saturday against No. 6/7 Southern Nazarene in Bethany. Regardless of the week's results, SWOSU's campaign will continue into March having already clinched a postseason spot.
After a 50% shooting mark in the first, SWOSU went cold with just two field goals in the second quarter – one of which that came in the closing seconds. Despite just five points in the second quarter, they only trailed 25-20 at the break.
Hailey Grant (14 pts; 6-12) and ECU's Mackenzie Crusoe (17 pts; 7-14) did most of the scoring in the first half. The two combined for 31 points on 16-of-32 shooting. The rest of the SWOSU squad finished just 2-of-16 in the game's first two quarters.
An 8-0 SWOSU run in the late part of the third quarter got the margin back manageable. All points were courtesy of Layni Zinn, who scored eight of the 12 in the quarter. It erased the 12-point ECU lead they had built, which was their largest of the game. The Lady Bulldogs trailed 36-32 entering the final 10-minute session.
SWOSU finally regained the lead after a Layni Zinn and-one layup past the midway mark of the fourth quarter gave them a 43-42 lead. From there, things went back-and-forth.
Trailing again by a bucket in the closing seconds after a dagger three-pointer put the Tigers back ahead, Mason Jones connected on a layup to tie things up with five seconds to play. Out of a timeout, ECU's Crusoe knocked down the game-winner from mid-range on the other end to seal it, capping off a 28-point performance. Final, 53-51 Tigers.
SWOSU shot 20-for-58 from the field in the game for 34.5%. They were 5-of-20 from the three-point line. East Central was 19-for-51 overall and 5-of-21 from deep. They finished 8-11 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.
Grant ended with a team high of 19 points which matched her career best. Layni Zinn had a season high 14 – 13 of which came after halftime.
