Box Score WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southeastern suffered through foul trouble and a first half they would like to forget as Southwestern Oklahoma State handed the Savage Storm a 96-74 loss on Thursday night in Weatherford, Okla.
The loss drops SE to 5-8 overall on the year and 3-4 in Great American Conference play heading into Saturday's 2 p.m. meeting with Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva, Okla.
Emily Williams led the way for the Storm, matching a game high with 19 points on a 5-of-8 shooting performance coupled with a 9-of-11 mark from the free throw line.
Haley Schaefer was the only other SE player in double-figures and finished with 11 points.
Schaefer turned in a team-high nine rebounds as the Storm held a 47-to-46 advantage on the glass in the game.
“Ugly,” said head coach
Darin Grover about Thursday's game. “It came down to simply guarding one-on-one and we didn't really do that very well, especially in the first half. They got to the basket and they finished shots, and we didn't. They made plays and we didn't make plays.”
The game boiled down to a brutal first half that saw the team's at different ends of the spectrum where nothing went right for SE and the Bulldogs could not miss.
In that half, Southeastern finished with a 17.2 percent shooting effort that encompassed an 0-for-10 mark from behind the arc. An 18-of-19 effort from the charity stripe buoyed the offense, however the team committed 15 turnovers and was whistled for 16 fouls in the half to stifle any momentum they tried to build.
In stark contrast, SWOSU shot 57.6 percent from the field, including a 45.0 percent mark from long range, and had three players in double-digits after running out to a 57-28 lead at intermission.
The Savage Storm recovered in the second half, but started in such a hole that outscoring the Bulldogs by a modest 46-39 did little to mount a rally and set the final score at 96-74.
In the second frame, Williams turned in 17 of her 19 points and SE posted a 41.7 percent shooting effort and hit 4-of-9 from three-point range, while holding SWOSU to a 28.6 percent shooting performance.
However, when the dust settled on the contest, Southeastern had two players foul out to the Bulldog's one and the teams combined to shoot 78 free throws while being whistled for a combined 59 fouls.
