Cantwell Powers SE to Win in Slugfest

DURANT, Okla. – Kamryn Cantwell poured in 23 points to lead all scorers as Southeastern gutted out a 58-49 win over East Central on Monday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 8-5 overall on the season heading into a Feb. 11 road trip to face Northwestern Oklahoma State at 5:30 p.m. in Alva, Okla.
 
"They did a great job of defending," said head coach Darin Grover. "They know what we want to do, they took away what we wanted to do, and we had to honestly really change a lot of the things we do offensively just because of their defensive game plan. We ended up setting a lot of ball screens and that's not something we do a lot. Just to get Kamryn Cantwell at the rim. We could have finished a whole lot more shots than we did and powered up through that contact, but they do a great job of defending."
 
Cantwell finished the night 7-of-13 overall from the floor and added a 9-of-10 effort at the free throw line to lead all scorers.
 
Jordan Benson was the only other Storm player to reach double-figures in the defensive slugfest, finishing with 12 points with a 2-for-2 effort from beyond the arch.
 
Katie Branam finished just shy of double-digits with eight, while Briley Moon, Chandler Kemp, and Casey Monk each added five.
 
Moon hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds and handed out a pair of assists.
 
Cantwell followed up with seven rebounds and snagged a pair of steals.
 
The teams traded one-possessions leads out of the gate until five-straight ECU points gave the Tigers a 13-9 lead with 1:56 to go in the first quarter.
 
Benson would connect on a free throw with 1:11 to play and follow up at the 10 second mark with a three to send the game to the quarter break tied at 13-13.
 
Neither team scored for the first 3:20 of the second quarter until the Tigers took a brief two point lead.
 
A Monk layup and a Cantwell layup would flip the Storm to a 17-15 lead with 5:37 to go in the second quarter.
 
After another three-minute scoreless stretch, ECU would tie the game at 17-17 with 2:15 to go in the half.
 
A Benson three would answer and trigger a 6-0 run to finish the frame by the Storm to take a 23-17 lead at the halftime break.
 
SE would score the first three points of the third quarter to push its lead out to 26-17, which would eventually reach double-digits at the 5:35 mark on a Cantwell three-point play to put  the Storm in front 30-19.
 
ECU would answer with an 8-1 run to close the deficit to four points by the 3:21 mark of the third quarter before SE would regain control and thanks to a Kemp buzzer beater to end the frame, take a 39-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
By the 8:16 mark a Branam layup would extend the storm lead back to 11 points at 43-32, but the Tigers would follow that with a 12-0 run to take a 44-43 lead with 4:40 to play.
 
The teams would trade the lead once and fight to a tie at 48-48 with 3:08 to play.
 
A Cantwell jumper would break that tie a minute later and the Storm would close the game on a 10-1 run to fashion the final score of 58-49.