Williams Powers SE to Win in GAC Opener

ARKADELPHIA. Ark. – Emily Williams turned in a monster night in the Great American Conference opener, turning in a career-high 40 points to lead Southeastern to an 88-72 win over Henderson State on Thursday night in Arkadelphia, Ark.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 4-0 and gives them a 1-0 start to conference play, while HSU dips to 1-2 and 0-1 in league play.
 
SE will be back on the court on Nov. 22 when it travels to Magnolia, Ark., to face Southern Arkansas at 2 p.m.
 
Williams turned in the biggest offensive performance since Tera Newnam poured in 44 points in the 2002-03 season and her 40 points was one-point shy of the GAC single-game scoring record.
 
On the night she shot 12-18 from the field with a 3-of-4 mark from behind the arc and she added a perfect 13-for-13 effort from the charity stripe.
 
Despite being a scoring machine, she also dished out a game-high three assists.
 
Kaylie Baxter and Rachel Wallace each added 10 points in the game, while Cheree Kiser added seven.
 
The Storm offense shot 51.8 percent from the field for the game, including a 47.6 percent mark from long range, hitting 10-of-21.
 
SE also finished 20-of-24 from the free throw line.
 
The Storm was out-rebounded 41-to-36 on the night, but Kiser paced the team with six boards, while Williams and Wallace chipped in five each.
 
The game got off to a slow start, with HSU scoring first and Kiser giving the Storm its first lead with a three just over two minutes into the game.
 
By the 16:45 mark SE had built an 8-4 advantage and would lead by as many as six before the Reddies rallied and took an 18-15 lead with 11:18 to go in the half.
 
SE answered with eight-straight points to kick off a 17-2 run capped by a Demi Koelzer layup to open up a 32-20 lead with 5:55 remaining in the half.
 
HSU would trim the Storm lead to 45-34 at the halftime break.
 
The 11 point gap was as close as the game would get as the Storm pushed its lead out to 20 points on a layup by Williams with 12:54 to play.
 
A Kaylie Baxter three with 11:23 to play would give SE its largest lead of the game at 77-46.
 
HSU would cut that lead down to a final score of 88-72.