The Southwestern Lady Dawgs seem to be comfortable in their new facility.
East Central brought a five-game winning streak into Weatherford on Thursday night, but it fell prey to the home court advantage SWOSU has developed in the new Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
Behind 16 made three-pointers, Southwestern beat East Central, 93-81, and has now won all four games it has played on its new home court.
SWOSU (13-8, 10-5) moved a half game ahead of ECU and into second place in the Great American Conference standings.
Michelle Fisher and Sarina Sayama each had a game high 20 points and made four three-pointers a piece to lead the way for the Lady Dawgs. Kylie Boggess had 19 points on the night and one-upped them, hitting five from behind the arc.
It was the third time this season Southwestern has made 16 long range shots and coach Kelsi Musick talked about how big that was for her team.
“Our offense is keyed around getting to the basket and making threes,” Musick said. “And when we’re making threes like that, it just opens things up and I think it gives us confidence on both ends of the floor.”
Southwestern hit 16-of-41 (39 percent) from behind the arc. This is included a big one by Fisher at the end of the first half, pushing a one-point lead up to four at 47-43 going into the break.
Musick said that shot was big for her team and for her.
“It was huge. It was confidence and a momentum-builder.
“Michelle hasn’t shot the ball as well as we expect her to or as she has been for her career for the last month or so. So for her to be able to get off a couple of those threes and knock them down, just boosts her confidence and gives the team a lot of momentum.”
ECU (15-7, 10-6) led by as many as seven in the first half. Dilan Webster knocked down a jumper giving her 14 points midway through the half and her team a 25-18 advantage. But Webster had only three more points after that as Southwestern made some adjustments.
“The biggest thing was defense,” Musick said. “I thought we mixed it defensively in the first half toward the end to get us back into it.
“And then in the second half, we did a really good job of playing team defense which allowed us to get some stops. And obviously they didn’t shoot it as well as they did in the first half.”
Webster had 17 points and seven boards, while Alycea Price logged a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Ashley Robinson put in 16 for the Lady Tigers
Southwestern hosts Southeastern on Saturday at 2 p.m for sole possession of second place in the league. The Savage Storm is also at 10-5 in the GAC after winning on Thursday night.
East Central continues its road swing, traveling to Alva to play Northwestern at 2 p.m.