SE Opens Season with Comeback Win over UCO

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Emily Williams poured in a game-high 17 points and Kaylie Baxter added a double-double as Southeastern opened the 2014-15 season with a come-from-behind 69-66 win over Central Oklahoma in the first game of the 2014 Stuteville Automotive Group MIAA/GAC Challenge in Tahlequah, Okla.
 
The win lifts SE to 1-0 to open the season with a 6:30 p.m. matchup with Northeastern State set for Nov. 15.
 
It was the first meeting between the former Lone Star Conference rivals since the 2011-12 season and the first Storm win over the Bronchos since a Feb. 12, 2011 72-69 win in Durant.
 
Williams' 17 points led all scorers, doing it on the strength of three three-point buckets and a perfect 4-for-4 effort at the free throw line.
 
She was joined in double-figures by Baxter who turned in 14 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc on 4-of-9 shooting from long range, while Cheree Kiser added 11.
 
Madison Thames chipped in eight and Shelby Hill finished with six.
 
Baxter and Hill each dished out three assists to lead the team.
 
It was a tail of two halves for the SE offense which fired at a 27.6 percent clip for the first 20 minutes, but came out after the break to hit 40.6 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from three-point range.
 
The Storm also hit 16-of-18 from the charity stripe to aid the cause.
 
Defensively, SE out-rebounded UCO 43-to-38, led by the 10 boards pulled down by Baxter, while Williams and Rachel Wallace each added six and Hill and Miranda Schaefer chipped in five.
 
The teams combined for 49 turnovers in the game, but the SE defense picked up eight steals and four blocked shots, including a pair of blocks from Williams.
 
UCO took the lead in the contest out of the gate in the first half and the Storm found itself in a double-digit deficit just over five minutes into the game.
 
SE would trail by as many as 15 in the first half, but would pick up the pace on offense late in the half to go to the locker room trailing 36-27.
 
The Bronchos would push its lead back to double-digits early in the second half and led by 13 when Williams drained a three pointer with 17:59 to play which keyed a huge 18-2 run which would first tie the game at 42-42 on a Schaefer free throw, and then put the Storm in front 45-42 with 12:37 to play on an Olivia Potter three.
 
From then on it was a back-and-forth battle, with each team pulling ahead by as many as four points, the last of which coming when the Storm took a 67-63 lead with 2:37 to play on a pair of Williams free throws.
 
UCO would hit a three to cut the SE lead to one point, but two more Williams free throws would extend the lead back to 69-66 which would hold to be the final score.