DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern will set out to avenge a loss from earlier in the season when it hosts rival East Central for senior night at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The game will be the final home contest for the Savage Storm's two seniors,
Bailey Welch and
Kayle Reaves who have both spent four seasons with the team.
SE comes into the contest with a 10-14 record on the season and an 8-10 mark in Great American Conference play with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Storm are all but locked into the No. 6 seed in the postseason tournament with two games to play in the regular season, but with jockeying still to be done in the top half of the conference standings they will likely have to wait till the regular season concludes on Saturday to figure out who the first round opponent will be.
On the other hand, Southeastern is very familiar with Thursday's opponent in the home finale having faced the Tigers on the road just over a month ago, falling in that contest 98-85.
The Storm put four players in double-figures that night, led by a 20 point performance by Welch who was 5-of-15 from the floor with a pair of threes, but a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. She also dished out a game-high eight assists.
Haley Schaefer followed up with 17 points, while
Emily Williams came off the bench to add 14 and
Ronay English pitched in 12.
Breana Small-Peppers led the team tam in rebounds with 10 as the Storm held a 51-to-41 edge on the glass.
Welch continues to pace the squad on the season, averaging 13.0 ppg while also dishing out a team-best 4.4 assists per contest.
She is joined in double-figures by Schaefer who is posting 10.6 ppg as well as English who is averaging 10.1 per outing.
Emily Williams and
Cheree Kiser have added solid scoring off the bench to the tune of 9.7 and 8.6 ppg, respectively.
Schaefer is leading the team's rebounding effort with 6.3 per night, while Williams checks in at 5.5 and two others are averaging more than four per game.
ECU enters Thursday's meeting at 17-7 on the season and 12-6 in GAC play and fighting for seeding in the top half of the bracket.
The Tigers are currently in a three-game skid that ended a four-game winning streak, and all three losses have come at home.
Dilan Webster leads ECU with 13.1 ppg and is the only player averaging in double-figures, while Lindsay McCown is at 9.5 and four others are averaging more than 7.0 ppg.
Ashley Robinson leads the team in rebounds at 7.5 per game, while Alycea Price is right behind at 7.0.
Alex Tucker guides the offense and has dished out a team-best 3.3 assists per game.
