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For the final time, Bartlesville is playing host to the Great American Conference Tournament starting on Thursday at Bruin Fieldhouse.

The Bartlesville Sports Commission has excelled in putting on NCAA Division II conference tournaments over the past 12 years. The official announcement that this week’s tournament would be the final one in Bartlesville came in December at the Bruin tip-off luncheon. Chairman of the BSC Bob Pomeroy expands on the choice to turn the page in the organization’s history.

A main draw of this year’s final GAC Tournament will be the final return of former Bartlesville Lady Bruin Hailey Tucker playing in her high school gymnasium once again.

Tucker has been one of the stars on a fantastic Southwestern Oklahoma State women’s team this season. The Lady Bulldog’s (27-1, 22-0) are the No. 1 seed and the heavy favorite to win the women's crown, winning the regular season championship going away. They went undefeated in GAC play, and are riding a 27-game win streak. Pomeroy talks about Tucker returning to Bartlesville.

Tucker is third in the conference in scoring at 19.0 PPG. Her first game will be on Thursday at 5:45 PM when SWOSU takes on Northwestern Oklahoma State. 

The GAC Tournament begins at Noon on Thursday, with the quarterfinals split up between Thursday and Friday for the women and men, the semifinals on Saturday and the championship games on Sunday afternoon.

We will have much more on the GAC’s final basketball championships in Bartlesville throughout this week.