Women's Basketball | 11/10/2016 5:17:00 PM
DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern will open the 2016-17 season on Nov. 11 when it faces Northeastern State at 1 p.m. in Edmond, Okla., at the GAC/MIAA Challenge.
The Savage Storm will follow that up with a Nov. 13 matchup with Central Oklahoma at 5:30 p.m.
Despite the loss of five seniors from a season ago and an influx of seven new additions hope is high that Southeastern can turn around its record from a season ago and position itself for a run in the Great American Conference if not beyond.
SE opens the 2016-17 season picked to finish fifth in the GAC according to the league's preseason poll which is voted on by the league's 12 coaches, a slight improvement over its seventh-place finish a season ago.
The Storm picked up a first-place vote in that poll and edged out rival East Central who finished sixth with a first-place vote of their own.
Harding is the GAC's preseason favorite, just surpassing Arkansas Tech who was second, while Southwestern Oklahoma State was third.
"We are really excited for the upcoming season," said head coach
Darin Grover. "We have a solid core coming back that we are going to have to mesh with a lot of kids that have never been on a college basketball court in a game situation. Our team is more athletic than we have been in many years."
"We will be depending on leadership from our seniors,
Olivia Potter and
Rachel Wallace," he continued, "As they will be leading a lot of inexperienced players."
Potter and Wallace return as the team's top two scorers from a season ago.
Potter averaged 13.0 ppg and is one of the league's most prolific three-point shooters, sharing the record for threes made in a game with
Rachel Wallace who averaged 11.8 ppg and set the GAC's single-game scoring record with a 48 point performance against SWOSU.
Wallace returns as the team's top rebounder with
Emem David joining her with 4.8 rpg and
Katie Webb right behind at 4.7 per game.
The Storm will bring in a mix of newcomers with a pair of junior college transfers and five new freshmen.
The group of new faces on the floor extends to nine if you add
Jordan Dawson and
Alix Robinson who redshirted a season ago and will be making their debuts this season.
SE opens the season with an exhibition contest at 2 p.m. on Oct. 30 against Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
The regular season will tip off with the GAC/MIAA Challenge on Nov. 11 when the Storm take on Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla., with the GAC schedule opening the following weekend with a 5:30 p.m. Nov. 17 matchup with Arkansas-Monticello in Monticello, Ark.
The first Savage Storm home contest with be a 2 p.m. matchup with Texas-A&M-Commerce on Nov. 27 in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
