East Central Oklahoma University Tigers Hold Off Rangers for Home Win

Mackenzie Crusoe/Women's Basketball | East Central Oklahoma University

By Press release submission

Jan 22, 2023

The East Central University women's basketball team opened up a stretch of four home games in 10 days with an 80-73 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State University at the Kerr Activities Center Thursday night.

With the win, ECU improves to 5-8 overall and 2-7 in conference play.

"Proud of our effort to put a game together," Interim Head Coach Heather Hurt said. "We competed, fought hard, and executed offensively. We stepped up and made the right play to get the right shots."

Mackenzie Crusoe got the offense going for the Tigers, knocking down the first shot of the game to get ECU on the board and eventually extend the lead to 8-3 early on. NWOSU fought back to tie the game twice until three made free throws by Ashlyn Evans-Thompson put ECU up 17-14 at the end of the opening period.

The second quarter saw the Rangers take their first and largest lead of the game at 32-24 with 3:30 remaining until the half. But the Tigers answered back with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit and go into the break trailing 34-32 to the Rangers.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth battle with three lead changes and five ties. ECU led 56-52 with just under 1:30 to go in the quarter, but a three-pointer by NWOSU put them back within one at 56-55 going into the final stanza.

The Tigers got off to a quick 6-0 run in the fourth quarter to start pulling away 62-55. The Rangers managed to tie the game one last time at 65-65 until a surge of offensive plays put the Tigers up for good. In the end, ECU outscored NWOSU 24-18 in the fourth to maintain its lead and finish off with an 80-73 victory.

"Many of our kids stepped up and had big games for us," Hurt said. "Ash was great and Kennedy Cummings gave tremendous effort. Very proud of our team and our fight."

Individually, Ashlyn Evans-Thompson led all scorers with a career-high 31 points on a 7-for-12 shooting performance from the field. She went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc and 12-for-14 from the free throw line while adding four steals.

Crusoe also had a solid night in double-figures, scoring 19 points going 5-for-10 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Kate Ogle finished with 10 points, going 3-for-7 from the field and adding a team-high six boards. Kennedy Cummings was next with 8 points while adding a team-high six rebounds and four assists.