SERACY, ARK. – The East Central University women's basketball team struggled early and fell 67-51 at Harding in Great American Conference action.

Scoring

First Quarter: 4-15

No scoring by either team until 6:42 was remaining

HU: 6:42 – 2 Free throws / ECU: 6:34 – Layup

Teams traded the next two shots through the first five minutes

The Bisons (14-6, 9-5 GAC) then went on a 11-0 run the rest of the stanza

Second Quarter: 12-8 (16-23)

Slow start to scoring again in the quarter, with none until 7:46 was left on the clock

HU: 7:46 – 1 Free throw / ECU: 7:27 – jumper

When the Tigers (14-6, 9-5 GAC) broke the scoreless streak they started an 8-0 run

Cut the deficit to four (12-16), with 5:42 remaining

ECU kept the disadvantage between 3-6 points the rest of the stanza

Third Quarter: ­­17-19 (33-42)

Teams battled back and forth throughout

Harding lead by as many as 11 (20-31)

The Tigers could only cut the deficit to as little as five

Fourth Quarter: 18-25

The Bisons kept the lead around 10 points for the first five minutes

Harding then pushed ahead by 14 (41-55) and never let the lead go below 10 the rest of the game

Largest lead was after the final basket (0:22) at 16

Tiger Quick Shots

Sr. Lakin Preisner claimed her ninth career and sixth double-double of the season

17 pts., 10 reb., 2 assists, 1 steal, 8-of-8 FT%

Preisner was the lone player with a double-digit point total

So. Kendall Schulte was next on the list with nine points

9 pts., 6 reb. (career-high), 3 assists, 1 block

The key difference in scoring came at the free-throw line

ECU: 16-of-25 / HU: 25-of-38

Preisner and So. Madison Rehl accounted for 15 of the Tigers free-throw attempts

Preisner 8-of-8 / Rehl 6-of-7

Up Next

ECU will continue its five-game road trip through Feb. 14

Final three games will all be in Oklahoma

Thursday, Feb. 7 at Southwestern – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 9 at Northwestern – 1 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 14 at Southeastern – 5:30 p.m.

Next home game, Saturday, Feb. 16 vs. Oklahoma Baptist – 1 p.m.