SE Rally Not Enough in Loss at ATU

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Southeastern fell victim to a 13-2 run to open the second half at Arkansas Tech which erased a halftime lead and despite a fourth-quarter rally the Savage Storm would end up on the wrong end of a 66-54 final on Thursday night in Russellville, Ark.
 
The loss drops SE to 13-14 overall on the year and 11-10 in Great American Conference play, slipping to seventh in the league standings and if the season ended today would enter the postseason tournament as the No. 6 seed.
 
SE will close out the regular season at 1 p.m. Feb. 27 when it faces Harding in Searcy, Ark.
 
Kaylie Baxter paced a spread out offense with 12 points on the strength of four threes, while Sa'Liesha Hunter and Olivia Potter checked in with nine each.
 
Katie Webb checked in with six points, with Miranda Schaefer adding five and Taylor Richards and Emem David each pitching in four.
 
Hunter dished out a team-best three assists with Richards adding two.
 
Overall the Storm shot 38.8 percent from the floor and hit 7-of-24 from three point range.
 
Baxter, Webb and David each pulled down five boards.
 
ATU jumped out to a 13-3 start right out of the gate, but SE recovered and finished the first quarter on a 12-4 run and a Potter jumper with 30 seconds to play would make the score 17-15 in favor of the Golden Suns after one quarter.
 
SE would twice tie the game early in the second quarter and take its first lead at the 6:43 mark on a Hunter jumper, pushing it to 24-19 a minute and a half later on a Baxter three.
 
ATU would bounce back and take a three point lead with just over two minutes to go in the half, but the Storm would score the last four points of the half, including a Richards layup with three seconds on the clock to take a 28-27 lead at half time.
 
Unfortunately, the Suns would open the second half on a 13-2 run to take a 40-30 lead by the 4:18 mark of the third quarter.
 
Late in the quarter SE would get back to back threes from Hunter and Baxter to cut the deficit to four points, but five of the last six points in the quarter belonged to ATU who led 50-42 heading to the final quarter.
 
Six-straight points from SE would trim the deficit to 50-48 at the 7:14 mark, and they would twice more cut the deficit to two points, the last time coming when Richards connected on a jumper with 4:12 to play.
 
However, ATU would maintain a two possession lead and ultimately pull away late on free throws to set the 66-54 final score.