Kemp Scores 17 in Storm Road Loss

ALVA, Okla. – Chandler Kemp turned in a season-high 17 points to lead Southeastern but it was not enough to lift the Savage Storm to a win on Saturday afternoon as the team fell at Northwestern Oklahoma State 71-68 in Alva, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 3-7 on the year and 1-3 in Great American Conference play heading into a 12-day break in the schedule for the Christmas holiday.
 
"We had a chance," said head coach Darin Grover. "We had a wide open three to tie it and what else can you ask for. We were going to take a quick two if we could get something really easy or an open three if we could get that. We turn it over, but then we get another chance at it. It was a heck of a steal, and we get a wide-open look at it, but that's the way that things have been going all year long. And it's my job to try to figure out what's going wrong, why its going wrong and what combination of kids are going to give us the biggest chance to win.  We've been inconsistent, and it's been up and down the lineup. And today it was defensively."
 
Kemp was 8-of-10 from the floor on her way to 17 points, leading a foursome of double-digit scorers.
 
That group included Briley Moon who finished with 15 points with a trio of threes and Kamryn Cantwell added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
 
Haiden Williams came off the bench and turned in 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting overall with three threes.
 
Cantwell would lead the team on the board with seven as well as in assists with three.
 
Williams and Kemp accounted for all 12 of Southeastern's first-quarter points, with Williams putting up eight and Kemp adding four.
 
The Storm scored first, but the teams would trade buckets for most of the first quarter until back-to-back buckets gave NWOSU the largest lead of the opening frame at 13-9.
 
SE would answer with a Williams three, but the Rangers would get the last bucket of the quarter for a 15-12 lead at the first break.
 
Kemp would open the second quarter with back-to-back layups to give SE a 16-15 lead and kick off a 17-4 run over the first seven minutes of the frame, with an Aimee Alverson bucket capping the run and putting SE up 29-19.
 
However, NWOSU would respond with a 10-2 run of its own to trim Southeastern's lead to 31-29 at the half.
 
A slow start to the second half for both teams was snapped by a pair of NWOSU free throws, but the Storm would answer with a pair of buckets to take a four-point lead.
 
The Rangers would rally to tie the game at 39-39, but a pair of Caitlin Kobiske free throws and a Williams three would give the Storm a five-point lead at 44-39.
 
The edge was still five points with 2:52 to play in the third when NWOSU would close the quarter on a 9-2 run to leave SE trailing 51-49 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
The Rangers pushed that lead out to six points early in the fourth quarter with SE playing catch up fr the entire final frame.
 
The deficit would reach seven points with 6:26 to play and again with 4:12 remaining, but a 6-0 run capped by a Kemp layup would close the gap to 62-61 with 1:13 to play.
 
SE would start trading buckets for free throws over the final minute and trailed by five with 14 seconds left before a Cantwell layup cut the score to 71-68 with 13 ticks left.
 
Cantwell would then snag the inbounds pass and Grace Alverson would get one final shot off in an attempt to tie but it was off the mark and the Storm would fall 71-68.