Southeastern Falls at No. 15 ATU

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Southeastern had a rough night shooting in the first half and was unable to mount a second half rally on the road in Russellville, Ark., in an 86-75 loss to No.15 Arkansas Tech on Thursday night.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 12-4 overall on the season and 5-3 in Great American Conference play heading into Saturday afternoon's meeting with Ouachita Baptist at 1 p.m. in Arkadelphia, Ark., who enter the contest 5-10 and 1-7 in league play after a 61-58 loss to Southern Nazarene.
 
Despite the loss, Emily Williams had a bounce back performance, turning in 20 points on the strength of a pair of threes and a 10-for-10 effort from the free throw line.
 
She was joined in double digits by Olivia Potter who finished with 15 thanks to four threes.
 
Kaylie Baxter nearly cracked double-figures with nine, while Taylor Richards added eight and Sa'Liesha Hunter chipped in seven.
 
Williams and Baxter each dished out a team-high three assists.
 
Baxter pulled down a team-best five rebounds, while SE was out-rebounded on the night 42-to-27.
 
The team's got off to an even start, with the Storm holding a 13-12 lead with 10:36 to go after a Potter three.
 
However, ATU would answer with 10-straight points and 16 of the next 20 points put on the board to open up a 32-19 lead with 1:59 to play.
 
Williams and Baxter would each hit a pair of free throws and Hunter would connect on a layup at the horn to leave Southeastern in a 35-25 hole at halftime.
 
The Storm improved its shooting in the second half to 42.9 percent thanks to a 9-of-17 mark from three-point range, but still found itself trailing by as many as 22 points in the second half with just over six minutes to go.
 
SE would score the next 10 points thanks to free throws by Williams and Hunter followed by back-to-back three by Williams then Potter, closing the gap to 76-64 with 4:55 to play.
 
The Golden Suns would answer with six of the next seven points to leave the Storm down 17 with 1:52 to play.
 
Southeastern would finish on a run with Baxter and Williams hitting free throws and Potter and Hunter draining threes to close the game on a 10-4 run to set the final score at 86-75.