ADA, Okla. – The Harding women's basketball team fell to East Central 53-46 on Thursday in Great American Conference action. It was the Lady Bisons first conference loss of the season as they fall to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in the GAC.

Both teams shot below 30 percent from the field. Harding shot 29.3 percent (17-of-58) and East Central shot 26.8 percent (15-of-56). The last time the Lady Bisons have shot under 30 percent in a game was last year at West Florida.

Harding trailed 29-15 at halftime. It was the fewest points in a half since 2006 when HU only had 12 against Valdosta State in the Gulf South Conference Tournament quarterfinal game.

The Lady Bisons cut the ECU lead to seven on an 11-0 run midway through the second half. The closest Harding got the rest of the way was six. East Central hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final minutes to seal the victory. It was the second straight GAC win for the Lady Tigers.

The Lady Tigers were the better team at the free throw line. ECU hit 19-of-26 (73.1 percent) and Harding hit 9-of-15 (60 percent).

Harding struggled from behind the arc making only 3-of-18. Sophomore guard Montana Lewis hit a 3-pointer to put the Lady Bisons up 3-0 in the first 20 seconds of the game. Then Harding then missed their next 14 3-pointers until sophomore guard Michaela Brown made one with 5:13 left in the game. East Central didn't shoot much better only hitting 4-of-15. The two teams were one and two in the GAC in 3-point field goal percentage coming into the game.

Sophomore guard Shana Holmes led HU with a game-high 18 points making seven field goals.

Senior forward Lindsay McCown led East Central (5-2, 2-1 GAC) with 10 points. Sophomore forward Dilan Webster led the Lady Tigers on the boards with 11.

East Central outrebounded Harding 46-42. For the second straight game, Arielle Saunders led the Lady Bisons with 11.

Harding had four blocks in the game all by Saunders. It was the most blocks by her this season.

Harding will look to bounce back on Saturday as they travel to Durant to take on Southeastern Oklahoma State. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.