Storm Secure Share of GAC Title With Win over OBU

DURANT, Okla. – Katie Branam turned in 23 points off the bench and Katie Webb added a double-double on senior day to help lift Southeastern to a 76-55 victory over Ouachita Baptist on Saturday afternoon to help the Savage Storm earn a share of its first Great American Conference Regular Season Championship.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 19-7 overall on the year and 16-6 in GAC play which left them tied for Southwestern Oklahoma State and Harding for the regular season title, but SE will take the No. 1 seed heading into next week's conference tournament thanks to owning the tiebreakers over those two teams.

Southeastern will open play in the GAC Tournament in Bartlesville, Okla., against eighth-seeded Southern Arkansas at 8 p.m. on March 5.
 
"Our kids have fought all year long," said head coach Darin Grover when asked about winning a share of the GAC championship, "And put a ton of work in. As coaches it's satisfying when you put a lot of work in, because I had a coach a long time ago tell me that the kids usually aren't going to care as much as you do, but I think these kids cared just as much as I do. I can't tell you how many times they came in extra that we don't require of them. They do that in their own time and it's been consistent all year long, and it's shown."
 
Saturday was also senior day for a trio of SE players playing in their final home games, they included Webb, Tracy Johnson, and Logan Oestreich.
 
Branam was lights out on the afternoon, hitting 8-of-11 overall and 6-of-9 from the floor to tally a career-high 23 points.
 
Webb was next in line with 17 points and turned in her sixth double-double of the season by pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Briley Moon added a 5-for-9 shooting effort for 12 points, while Johnson finished with seven.
 
OBU scored first and held the lead for much of the first quarter until a quick 5-0 spurt capped by a Moon three-point play would give the Storm a 13-11 lead with 3:40 to go in the first.
 
However, the Tigers would respond however and score nine of the final 14 points in the quarter and take a 20-16 lead after one.
 
The deficit reached six points early in the second quarter before back-to-back Moon buckets followed by a Webb layup would knot the game at 24-24 with 5:40 to go in the half.
 
The Tigers would answer with a 12-0 run of their own to go ahead 36-24, but back-to-back three from Haiden Williams and Neely Noel in the final two minutes would trigger a run capped by a Webb layup that closed the deficit to 36-32 at the half.
 
A Webb three and a follow up jumper would erase the remaining deficit and give the Storm its first lead since the first quarter at 37-36.
 
OBU would answer with a bucket, but SE responded with an 11-4 run capped by a Branam jumper to go ahead 48-42 with 4:46 to go in the third.
 
The lead would continue to grow as the Storm scored nine of the final 13 points from that point on to take a 57-46 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
The final frame belonged to Southeastern from beginning to end as the Storm shot 60.0 percent in the fourth quarter overall and 50.0 from three-point range, outscoring OBU 19-9 over the final 10 minutes to pull away with a 76-55 win.