Defense Powers SE to Win in Home Finale

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern picked up its second-straight win in its home finale, downing Arkansas-Monticello 53-40 on Saturday afternoon in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 13-11 overall and 11-9 in Great American Conference play with two games remaining on the regular season slate.
 
"I thought our kids did a good job defensively," said head coach Darin Grover. "Offensively we had way too many turnovers, but I'm happy, we won. We went 2-0 this weekend, we'll take it going down the stretch to the conference tournament."
 
"Our kids executed what we wanted to do defensively to a T," Grover continued, discussing the defensive performance in the third quarter. "We had a couple of hiccups early on in the game, but in the third quarter if we don't foul on the final possession they may not score in the third quarter.  I'm not sure I've ever seen that."
 
Briley Moon paced the Storm offense, hitting 5-of-7 from the field with three threes and putting up 13 points, while Alix Robinson was right behind with 12 points with a pair of threes and a 6-of-8 effort at the free throw line.
 
Neely Noel would drain three threes as well to finish with nine points, with Katie Branam right behind with eight.
 
Haiden Williams turned in a season-high six assists to lead the Storm.
 
Moon also led the way on the boards with seven, while Robinson hauled in six.
 
The Storm fell behind 5-0 early but a Robinson three and a pair of Cierra Rangel free throws would knot the game by the 6:35 mark of the opening quarter.
 
UAM would jump back in front by five points, but threes form Moon and Neely Noel would give the Storm its first lead at 12-11.
 
The Cotton Blossoms would regain the lead briefly, but a Moon three to end the quarter would give SE a 15-13 lead at the first break.
 
SE went ahead 20-16 before a UAM 6-0 run would give the guests the lead again with 3:59 to go in the half.
 
A Rangel layup with 1:39 to go would knot the score and a Moon layup to beat the shot clock buzzer with 38 seconds left would give the Storm a 26-24 lead at the half.
 
The Storm defense tightened mightily in the third quarter, holding UAM to an 0-11 shooting effort over 9:51 before a pair of free throws ended the quarter shutout.
 
Over that span the Storm reeled off a 17-0 run with seven points from Robinson and was nearly perfect in every shooting phase, hitting 4-of-4 from the field, including a 3-of-3 mark from beyond the arc, and going 6-of-7 at the free throw line, ultimately opening a 43-26 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
 
The Blossoms opened the fourth on a 7-1 run to close the gap to 44-33 with 6:33 to play.
 
That was as close as it would get as a Williams bucket would end the run and SE would pull away with a 53-40 victory.