Storm Dominant in 92-72 win at HU

SEARCY, Ark. – For the second-straight contest Kamryn Cantwell and Katie Webb each cracked the 20-point mark and the Savage Storm shot 58.6 percent from the field on its way to a dominating 92-72 victory over Harding on Saturday afternoon in Searcy, Ark.
 
The victory is the third-straight for Southeastern who improve to 8-2 overall on the season and 5-1 in Great American Conference play. Couples with losses on Saturday by Southwestern Oklahoma State and Southern Nazarene, the Storm are in sole possession of first place in the league standings.
 
SE will be back in action when it returns to Bloomer Sullivan Arena on Jan. 9 to host Arkansas-Monticello at 5:30 p.m.
 
"Katie is so difficult to guard," said head coach Darin Grover. "And especially because they have a big lineup and it's a matchup problem matching up with us.  When Katie's driving in there, there's tons of help so she's kicking out and finding Haiden Williams and Briley Moon. There were some periods where Briley's guarded by a post player so we're just like hey, let's run our stuff to Briley and she hit like three threes in a short amount of time that really pushed us ahead in the first half."
 
Cantwell led all scorers with 22 points, posting her second-straight 20-point outing an the third in her last four games. She shot 75.0 percent against HU, including hitting both threes she attempted.
 
Webb turned in 20 points as well, shooting 56.3 percent for the contest. She also passed Tera Newnam to move into fourth-place on Southeastern's all-time scoring list. Webb now has 1,289 points and trails Mouziane Deeb by 37 points for third on the all-time list.
 
Briley Moon finished the contest with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting overall, including a 4-of-4 effort from beyond the arc. Moon also completed her first double-double of the season by hauling in 10 rebounds.
 
Haiden Williams came off the bench with 11 points in just 13 minutes of action thanks to a 3-of-4 performance from three-point range.
 
The Storm shot 58.6 percent from the field for the contest, including a 73.3 percent effort in the third quarter when SE outscored the Bisons 31-16.
 
Southeastern finished with 22 assists as a team for the game, with Cantwell and Webb handing out four apiece while Mon and Williams dished out three each.
 
Moon's 10 rebounds led all rebounders in the game as the Storm held a 30-to-29 edge on the glass as a team.
 
Moon dropped 13 first-half points and the Storm connected on nine threes as a team in the first 20 minutes, hitting 9-of-14 to shoot 64.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
SE fell behind early, trailing by as many as six points before closing out the final six minutes of the first quarter with a 19-5 run, including three-straight Moon threes to end the frame with the Storm up 22-14.
 
HU closed to within one possession early in the second quarter, but a Jordan Benson layup would trigger an 11-2 run to push the SE advantage out to 36-24 with 4:35 to go on the quarter.
 
Th Storm lead would reach 14 points in the quarter before the Bisons would close the gap to 46-37 at halftime.
 
HU would close the gap early in the third, trailing by six points at the 7:53 mark, but a Webb layup would trigger a massive 20-2 run capped by a pair of Cantwell free throws to open a 70-46 lead with 2:43 to go in the quarter.
 
Harding would score five-straight points, but the Storm would answer with seven of the final nine points to take a 77-53 lead after three quarters.
 
SE would use a 12-3 run early in the fourth quarter capped by a Webb jumper to push the lead out to 89-58 before the Bisons closed out the game on a 14-3 run to fashion the final score of 92-72.