SE men drop GAC atchup to SAU
DURANT, Okla. - Southeastern found it hard to overcome a near 60 percent shooting effort from Southern Arkansas en route to a 77-54 loss on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The loss drops SE to 7-14 on the year overall and 3-6 in Great American Conference play heading into a Saturday matchup against Arkansas-Monticello at 4 p.m. on Saturday to wrap up a three-game conference home stand.
The Storm put just one player in double figures with Chris Roussell continuing his string of double-digit outings in league play with 13.
Ivan Johnson just missed with nine points, while Urald King and Steven Kohli each added eight.
The offense shot 42.6 percent from the floor, but was unable to hang with the 59.2 percent SAU put up thanks to a 62.5 percent effort in the second half.
King, Kohli and Johnson each pulled down five rebounds to lead the way for SE who was out-rebounding 29-to-27 on the night.
Roussell also dished out a team-best five assists, while Kohli added four.
On the defensive end, Kohli and Antonio Worthy each blocked a pair of shots as the Storm stopped five on the evening.
The Muleriders took an early lead, but SE answered the opening three with a free throw and a King layup to knot the score at 3-3.
SAU would regain the lead shortly thereafter and never relinquish it.
The Muleriders would extend their lead to seven points twice before SE answered and cut the deficit back to 18-14 on a Roussell jumper with 9:04 remaining in the half.
SAU would use an 8-2 run to push that lead back to double digits, but the Storm would again find an answer and close the gap to 29-28 on a Dami Sapara bucket in transition with 1:53 to play.
That was as close as it would get as the Muleriders would score the last six points of the half and lead 35-28 at the break.
An SAU three to open the second half would push the SE deficit to double figures where it would stay.
The gap would grow to as many as 21 before and SE run trimmed it back to 65-49 on a Roussell jumper with 8:51 remaining.
SAU would answer, however, and eventually pull away for the 77-54 win.
Big second half powers SE women to win
DURANT, Okla. - Southeastern erased a five-point halftime deficit thanks to a 52 point second half and pulled away late to pick up an 85-75 win over Southern Arkansas in Great American Conference action on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The win was the second-straight league win for the Savage Storm and lifts their record to 9-10 overall on the year and 5-4 in GAC play heading into the final game of a three-game home stand against Arkansas-Monticello at 2 p.m. on Feb 4.
Nikki Nester led a pack of five players to reach double figures, turning in 18 in the effort.
She was helped by starters Brooklyn Horton, who finished with 13, and Jessica Hesse, who added 10, while also getting help off the bench with 12 from Bailey Welch and 11 from Haley Schaefer.
SE recovered from a 38.5 percent shooting effort in the first half by hitting 53.1 percent in the second half and finishing the contest at 46.6 percent from the floor, despite little success from long range where the Storm hit 3-of-10.
Their best percentage came at the free throw line where the team has continued to improve as the season progresses, hitting 90.3 percent on 28-of-31 freebies, including hitting the first 15 in-a-row.
Southeastern also held an advantage on the boards, out-rebounding SAU 38-to-32 on the night, led by Ashley Hobbs and Horton who tallied six each. The rebounding duties were really spread around, however, as four others pulled down four boards each.
Aside from scoring, Nester also took the time to get others involved in the offense and finished the night with seven assists across from just two turnovers.
To say SE got off to a slow start would be an understatement, as the Muleriders rushed to a 12-0 lead by the 16:18 mark of the first half.
Hesse would stop the bleeding with a jumper to get the Storm on the board just shy of four minutes into the game, and that in turn would queue a 10-0 run that was capped by a Welch layup to close the gap to 12-10 with 12:50 to play in the half.
SAU would maintain its lead however until the 9:02 mark when a Horton layup would put the Storm in front 20-19.
The lead would reach five points before the Muleriders rallied with another 12-0 run to go up 31-24 with 4:19 to play.
A Nester three with 23 seconds on the clock closed the gap to just three points, but SAU would hit a pair of free throws with four ticks left to take a 38-33 lead at intermission.
The Muleriders would extend their lead to eight on two occasions early in the second half, but the Storm would eventually whittle away at the gap and tie the game at 60-60 on a Ronay English jumper with 9:36 remaining.
Less than 30 seconds later English would hit a layup in transition to give SE its first lead of the second half.
SAU would tie the game at 63-63, but a Hesse jumper with 8:03 remaining would put the Storm in front for good.
SE would push its lead out to seven points twice over the final minutes but SAU would fight back and cut the Storm advantage to 77-75 with 1:25 to play.
The SE defense answered and thanks an 8-0 run to close out the game, six of which came from Welch, the Storm would leave with an 85-75 win.