SE Ends SWOSU Home Streak With 79-69 Win

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Briley Moon and Katie Webb each posted double-doubles as No. 18 Southeastern traveled to Weatherford, Okla., and snapped Southwestern Oklahoma State's 38-game home winning streak on Saturday afternoon with a 79-69 victory.
 
The win snaps an eight-game losing skid for SE in Weatherford and SE becomes the first GAC team to sweep the Bulldogs in the regular season since the 2015-16 season.
 
The Savage Storm improve to 12-2 overall on the season and stay atop the Great American Conference standings with a 9-1 record in conference play heading into a Jan. 23 road trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., to face Ouachita Baptist at 5:30 p.m.
 
"You want to say it's a tough place to play," said head coach Darin Grover, "But it's a tough place to play because they're good and have been for a while. So to win this after 38-straight games, I think ECU was the last one that beat them here. And on top of that, I don't' know when the last time SWOSU had someone sweep them."
 
"I thought we played poorly," continued Grover. "I really, really did. I thought we played poorly, we turned it over. I was so confident coming in that we were going to handle their pressure and their press and we didn't. We didn't handle it very well. So that was just a bad part of the game."
 
"I thought overall defensively we did a really good job on them," Grover added. "Aska was in foul trouble so she was in and out, in and out. We talk about analytics a lot of times, that's why in my opinion when you have a really good player and they get two fouls in the first half, you don't sit them for the rest of the first half because they're never going to gain those minutes back, but I'm glad she did."
 
Moon was perfect from the field on the night, hitting 6-of-6 shots, all from three-point range, and finishing the contest with 21 points and tacked on a career-high 11-rebounds to record her second double-double of the season.
 
Webb started a new double-digit scoring streak by pouring in 19 points and completed her third double-double of the year by hauling in a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
Chandler Kemp turned in her second-best scoring effort of the year with 12 points on a 6-of-7 shooting performance and managed to haul in eight rebounds.
 
After scoring 21 points on Thursday, the Storm starters bounced back in a big way with 64 points combined.
 
Logan Oestreich dished out a game-high five assists as the Storm dished out 17 for the game as a team.
 
SE owned the glass in the game with 46 rebounds across from 30 for SWOSU.
 
The Storm finished the contest shooting 50.9 percent from the field overall and 56.3 percent from three-point range, draining 9-of-16 from beyond the arc.
 
Defensively, Southeastern held the Bulldogs to a 34.3 percent shooting effort overall and allowed a 30.4 percent mark from long range.
 
Nine players scored in the first half for the Storm, led by Chandler Kemp who was 4-of-4 from the floor in the half with eight points as SE shot 48.0 percent as a team.
 
The teams traded buckets on their first possession, but the pace slowed from then on as SWOSU would score next at the 7:35 mark of the first quarter.
 
SE would find itself trailing much of the first quarter, going down 14-8 with 3:12 to go in the first before reeling off a 9-3 run to end the quarter tied at 17-17.
 
The Storm carried that momentum into the second quarter, opening on a 10-0 run capped by a pair of Logan Oestreich free throws with 5:47 to go in the half.
 
The teams traded blows until back-to-back Bulldog buckets would cut the SE advantage to 33-28 with the five-point margin remaining at the half at 37-32.
 
The Storm opened the third quarter on a 12-3 run, taking a 49-35 lead on an Oestreich bucket with 5:38 to go in the third.
 
SWOSU would put together a 13-5 run to chip away at the Storm advantage, closing the gap to 54-48 with 51 seconds to go in the third before a Kemp bucket would give SE a 56-48 lead at the end of three quarters.
 
The Bulldogs would score first with a free throw to start the fourth quarter, but Southeastern answered with a 13-1 run capped by a Moon three to take a 69-50 lead with 6:35 to play.
 
The Storm would go into preservation mode, running the clock down as SWOSU chipped away at the Storm advantage.
 
The Bulldogs would outscore the Storm 17-8, but Southeastern would hold off the rally for a 79-69 victory.