SE Drops Rivalry Matchup at ECU

Box Score ADA, Okla. – Southeastern put four players in double-figures, but was unable to overcome a 26-6 East Central advantage in second chance points en route to an 81-68 loss to the rival Tigers on Thursday night in Ada, Okla.
 
The loss is the fourth-straight for the team who dips to 13-12 overall and 10-9 in Great American Conference play.
 
Ronay English came off the bench to turn in a season-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including a 3-of-6 mark from three point range.
 
Haley Schaefer was right behind with 15 points, While Breana Small-Peppers added 13 and Emily Williams chipped in 12.
 
Small Peppers also led the team in rebounds with eight, while Taylor Richards dished out three assists and finished with eight points.
 
It was rebounding that the Storm struggled with on the day, as ECU held a 48-to-35 advantage on the glass which included an 18-to-6 mark on the offensive boards.
 
Otherwise the game was evenly matched, with SE shooting 40.4 percent from the floor and out-shooting the Tiger from long range, hitting 6-of-18 from behind the arc as opposed to the 4-of-23 effort by ECU.
 
ECU held a slight advantage in points off turnovers at 15-14, but the Storm evened that out with a 24-22 edge in the paint.
 
SE also got a big effort form its bench with a 33-19 advantage, led by English's team-high.
 
ECU scored first, but Williams answered with a three and the Storm proceeded to open the game on a 9-2 run.
 
An 8-2 Tiger run answered the Storm and cut the SE advantage to one point by the 14:07 mark fo the first half.
 
Southeastern maintained its lead until an Ashley Robison layup with 12:27 to go tied the game and sparked a 7-0 run that put the Tigers up 19-14.
 
ECU would stretch its lead out to eight points before an 8-0 run knotted the game at 27-27 on an English three with 4:40 to play.
 
However, the Tigers would finish the half on a 10-3 run to take a 37-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
SE whittled that deficit to three points in the early going of the second half, but the Tigers used a 7-0 run to stretch the lead to 46-36 with 16:42 to play.
 
The Storm would twice get the lead back to single digits at eight points, the last time coming on a Schaefer layup with 11:54 to play.
 
ECU would answer with six-straight points and the lead would never shrink below double-digits for the remainder of the game as the Tigers took the contest 81-68.