Southeastern Falls on Late HU Run

SEARCY, Ark. – Despite a 50.9 percent shooting effort and 19 points from Olivia Potter Southeastern's upset bid on the road against Harding comes up short in an 87-76 loss to end the regular season on Saturday afternoon in Searcy, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 13-15 overall on the year and 11-11 in Great American Conference play which cements them into the No. 6 seed in next week's conference tournament where they will face third-seeded Southwestern Oklahoma State at noon on March 4 in Bartlesville, Okla.
 
Potter bounced back from a series of slow shooting outings to drop five threes and go 6-of-13 overall from the floor and turn in a team-high 19 points.
 
She was joined in double-figures by Miranda Schaefer who turned in a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor.
 
Katie Webb finished just shy of double-figures with nine, while Rachel Wallace and Sa'Liesha Hunter added eight each.
 
As a team the Storm shot 50.9 overall from the field hitting 29-of-57, and were even more impressive in the first half where they finished with a 16-of-29 effort at 55.2 percent.
 
SE dished out 20 assists as a team with Kaylie Baxter and Shelby Hill accounting for half that with five assists each.
 
Baxter also led the way on the glass with six rebounds, while six others were next in line with three each.
 
HU scored the first six points of the game and Southeastern struggled to get its offense moving early in the first quarter as the Bison would jump out to a 17-2 lead by the midway point of the period.
 
The deficit would grow to 19 points before the Storm would close the quarter on a 7-0 run capped by a three-point play by Schaefer with 10 seconds left to finish the first 10 minutes down 27-15.
 
SE continued its rally in the second quarter and after HU scored the first two points of the frame, answered with a 16-0 run capped by a Potter three which tied the game at 29-29 with 6:30 to go in the half and a Webb layup to take a 31-29 lead, its first of the game.
 
The Storm would go up by four points on an Emem David bucket with 3:08 to play, but an 11-3 HU run would leave the Bisons up by four before a pair of Potter free throws with 23 second left would make the halftime score 42-40.
 
The third quarter was a slugfest as the teams traded buckets for the full 10 minutes with neither team stretching a lead beyond one possession.
 
The Storm would get a Hunter three with 1:48 to play and go up 59-57, but the Bisons connected on the final two buckets of the quarter and SE trailed 61-59 going into the final quarter.
 
A Baxter jumper and back-to-back Potter threes offset an HU three and gave the Storm a 67-64 lead with 8:25 to play.
 
Southeastern would maintain that lead, but could not push it beyond three points until the Bisons got five straight points from Sydney Layrock to take a two point lead with 6:12 to play.
 
A Schaefer bucket would answer and tie the game and the teams would again trade blows before landing in a 75-75 tie with 3:58 to play.
 
However, Harding would go on a 12-0 run and finish by scoring 12 of the last 13 points of the game to hand SE an 87-76 loss.