Hot Shooting Storm Downs SNU on the Road

BETHANY, Okla. – Southeastern shot 57 percent from the field, better than 50 percent from beyond the arc, and had a pair of 20-point scorers on its way to a 75-62 win on Thursday night over Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 5-4 on the season and in Great American Conference Western Division play and will be back in action Saturday afternoon when they return home to host Northwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
"We knew they would shoot better in the second half than they did in the first," said head coach Darin Grover. "And they did. They shot it and what was disappointing about our defensive effort is they got shots at the basket. We really controlled that in the first half, and they missed their threes.  They hit their threes and they got to the basket, so I thought our defensive effort in the second half was not as good as it was in the first half."
 
"We probably got tired," said Grover. "We're kind of playing a short bench a little bit just due to our inexperience. I was disappointed in that part, but I thought our kids fought back every time they would knock down a few threes we would answer back."
 
Cantwell led all scorers on the night with 22 points on a 7-of-11 shooting effort that included a 4-of-6 mark from three-point range.
 
She was followed closely by Briley Moon who put up 21 points on the night, adding a 7-of-8 performance at the free throw line.
 
Two other reached double-figures with Katie Branam connecting on four threes to finish with 12 points and Chandler Kemp adding 10 on a 5-of-6 shooting performance.
 
The Storm offense clicked essentially all night, hitting 66.7 percent from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range in the first quarter and closing strong with a 70.0 percent effort form the floor and a 2-for-3 mark form long range.
 
That added up for a 57.8 percent shooting overall and was nearly as sharp from long range, hitting 12-of-22 from beyond the arc for a 54.5 percent clip.
 
Cantwell also led the way for all players on the glass with eight rebounds as SE held a 28-to-27 edge on the boards.
 
Aimee Alverson dished out a team-leading five assists, while Cantwell chipped in four.
 
SE came out firing to start the game with a Kemp bucket followed by threes from Branam and Moon to take an 8-0 lead to open the game.
 
The Savage Storm would push that lead to double figures on a Cantwell three with 3:28 to go in the quarter at 16-4 and would take a 20-8 lead into the first quarter break.
 
A Casey Monk bucket and a Cantwell three to open the second quarter stretched the lead out to 17 points over the first two minutes of the quarter.
 
SNU would trim the gap back to 14 points, but a late push and a Moon three with 1:57 to play in the half would give SE a 34-16 lead before settling on a 36-19 lead at the halftime break.
 
A Branam three opened the second half by pushing the Southeastern lead to 20 points.
 
The Storm would hit that lead twice more in the quarter before SNU closed out the third quarter on a 13-3 run to cut the SE lead to 46-36 with 2:28 to go in the third.
 
A Haiden Williams three would stop the run and a Kemp bucket would push the Southeastern lead back to 15 points before settling on a 51-40 lead after three quarters.
 
Once again, the Storm jumped out to start a quarter, using a 6-0 run to go ahead 59-42 at a minute into the frame.
 
SNU used an 11-2 to cut the SE advantage to eight points with 4:41 to play.
 
The Crimson Storm would close the gap to eight points three more times and each time Southeastern had an answer and would close out the game hitting five of six free throws over the final 40 seconds to hold on for the 75-62 win.