ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University women's basketball team kept itself alive in the hunt for a Great American Conference Championship Tournament berth with a dominant win over East Central University at home on Thursday night by a final score of 79-54.
Ouachita improves to 11-12 overall and 8-11 in GAC games, which is currently good for sixth place in the league with three games remaining in the regular season. The top eight teams from the league will play in the GAC tournament March 2-5 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Thursday's win over ECU (10-13, 7-12 GAC) is the most convincing conference victory for the purple Tigers of the 2022-23 season and evens the season series between the two schools following an 11-point loss in Ada, Oklahoma in late January.
Highlighting Ouachita's win was a 53 percent shooting performance (30-for-57) and a stingy defense that kept ECU to just 28 percent from the field (17-for-61). Ouachita held ECU to just two made field goals in both of the second and third periods. Ouachita also dominated the boards in the win, doubling up the orange Tigers 46-23 in rebounds.
Four purple Tigers reached double-digits in scoring, led by
Makayla Miller with a game-high 18 points following a 7-for-12 shooting performance. She also had eight rebounds and four assists.
Madeleine Tipton added 15 points, followed by
Heidi Robinson with 13 and
Laney Mears with 12.
Grayson Fairless turned in her sixth double-digit rebounding performance of the year with a game-high 14.
Ouachita is back in action this Saturday at home against Southeastern Oklahoma State looking to sweep the season series against the Savage Storm. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Bill Vining Arena.
