Box Score DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern struggled form the field and was unable to overcome a double-digit halftime deficit as Arkansas Tech handed the Savage Storm an 80-48 loss on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 1-6 overall and 0-3 in Great American Conference play heading into Saturday's 2 p.m. meeting with Harding.
Haley Schaefer paced SE on offense and defense with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Kayle Reaves and
Bailey Welch each added eight points, three SE players pitched in three rebounds.
Madison Thames led the way with three assists.
Southeastern struggled from the field hitting just 29.3 percent, while the Golden Suns finished the contest at 50.7 percent from the floor.
Not much went SE's way in the contest as ATU held a 27-11 edge in points off turnovers, a 44-8 advantage in the paint and a 20-2 lead in second chance points.
The game was back-and-forth early until the Suns jumped out to a 16-10 lead after back-to-back three pointers.
The Storm would answer with a three of its own from
Natalie Ruud, but ATU would then reel off a 13-2 run that left SE in a 29-15 hole with 9:21 to play in the half.
That disadvantage would balloon to 23 points by the 2:41 mark before the Storm would get a
Cheree Kiser three and a pair of Welch free throws to trim the halftime deficit to 43-25.
A pair of Schaefer free throws early in the second half would cut the deficit to 16 points, but that was as close as it would get as ATU would quickly extend its lead back beyond 20 points.
The Suns would post a 16-3 run in the final six minutes to fashion the 80-48 final score.
