Kemp, Cantwell Power SE to Win Over ATU

DURANT, Okla. – Chandler Kemp and Kamryn Cantwell each posted 18 points and Southeastern shot 55.8 percent from the field for the game en route to a 68-63 win over Arkansas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 8-10 overall on the season and 6-6 in Great American Conference play, snapping a three-game losing streak and completing a season-sweep of Arkansas Tech.
 
"Last game out we zoned the whole game,' said head coach Darin Grover, "Which is not typical of our teams. We had that zone ready, but I went ahead and went with man and I feel like our kids did a great job of keeping them in front of us. With the dribble-drive and with as athletic as they are you've got to keep them away from the basket. Especially in the first half I thought we did that. They hit some corner threes in the second half and that was a little bit of a problem. They're so athletic that it's going to be hard to keep them away from the basket but I thought we did a good job of that."
 
Kemp finished with a season-high 18 points on a highly efficient 9-of-13 shooting effort, while Cantwell got to her 18 by nearly matching that effort and hitting 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
 
Caitlin Kobiske joined the pair in double figures with 13, shooting 50 percent from the floor and hitting 5-of-6 at the line.
 
Briley Moon did not have a huge offensive night, finishing with four points, but was able to haul in five rebounds and in the process become the program's 12^th member of the 500 rebound club and the ninth player in SE history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 boards in a career.
 
Kobiske and Lauren Beason would lead the team on the boards with seven apiece, while Cantwell added six rebounds.
 
Cantwell also led the team in assists with four.
 
The Storm hit 29-of-52 from the field for the game, including an 81.8 percent effort in the fourth quarter.
 
All of those made buckets came from inside the arc as the Storm did not connect on a three in the game and shot just two, a low mark for threes attempted in a game in Grover's 17-year tenure as head coach.
 
Southeastern broke up a back-and-forth opening to the game with back-to-back bucket from Cantwell and Haiden Williams to take a four point lead and would take a 12-8 lead into the first quarter break.
 
After ATU scored to open the second quarter, SE would cap a 7-2 run with a Cantwell fastbreak layup to push the lead out to 19-12 by the 7:18 mark of the quarter.
 
The Storm lead stretched to 10 points by the 2:55 mark on a Jordan Benson layup, but the Golden Suns would trim that gap down to six points before a Benson layup in the final minute gave SE a 30-22 lead at the break.
 
The lead would maintain, but continue to yo-yo in the third quarter, narrowing to four before stretching out to eight, before once again closing to four points at 39-35 with 3:43 to play in the third.
Kemp would connect on buckets on the next three straight possessions and push the Southeastern advantage back to double-digits at 45-35 with 2:20 to go in the frame.
 
However, ATU would score the final seven points of the quarter to close the deficit to 45-42 after three quarters.
 
SE would score the first two buckets of the fourth quarter and by the 5:13 mark would hold an eight point lead after a Kobiske jumper.
 
The Suns would make a final push and on three-straight possessions would close the gap to two points inside the final three minutes, but Kemp would answer the first two with a bucket and Cantwell would respond to the third with 31 seconds left, and the Storm would hit 5-of-6 free throws over the final 23 seconds to secure the 68-63 win.