Savage Storm Fall In Defensive Road Battle

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Caitlin Kobiske and Lauren Beason combined for more than half of Southeastern's points as the Savage Storm was not able to survive a cold-shooting afternoon in a defensive slugfest, falling 52-49 on Saturday in Wetherford, Okla.
 
The loss drops SE to 4-4 on the season overall and 0-2 to open Great American Conference play, while SWOSU improves to 4-3 on the season and 2-0 in GAC play.
 
"We shot 19 threes," said head coach Darin Grover, "Most of them were good looks. Someone's got to hit one. We shot 71 percent at the line, but our goal is 75, that's one free throw and that makes a difference. Defensively, we played well enough to win. You hold someone to 52 points you've got to be able to win the game. But when you look up and down the stat sheet at 1-for-6, 4-for-11, 0-for-3, 0-for-4, 0-for-1, etc., you're not going to win games that way."
 
Kobiske and Beason turned in 13 points each for the Storm, with Kobiske hitting 4-of-11 form the field, while Beason connected on 4-of-5 shots, including both threes she put up.
 
Holli Lindley was next in line with nine, while Abbie Barr turned in seven off the bench.
 
Lindley would lead all rebounders in the game with 13, while Kenzli Warden added seven and Kobiske hauled in six.
 
Despite shooting 31.3 percent from the field, the Storm would actually outshoot SWOSU overall, holding the Bulldogs to 30.5 percent overall, but SE would see the home team sink 10 threes to their own four.
 
SE would push out to a 7-2 lead over the first three minutes of the contest, but the Bulldogs would score the next five points to knot the game with 4:14 to go in the first.
 
The scoring would slow at that point as the teams ended the first quarter tied at 10-10.
 
SWOSU would use a 12-3 run, all on threes, over the first four minutes of the second quarter, leaving the Storm in a 22-13 hole.
 
A Kobiske three at the 4:32 mark would kick off a rally over the final four and a half minutes as a 12-2 Southeastern run capped by a pair of Beason free throws with 0.6 seconds to go before the break would give the Storm a 25-24 lead at the halftime break.
 
The Bulldogs would reel off a 13-2 run to open the third quarter, taking a 37-27 lead with 4:02 to play in the quarter.
 
Over the final four minutes the Storm would outscore SWOSU, 10-5, to close the gap to 42-37 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
SE would continue to chip away, with a Beason jumper at the 5:33 mark giving the Storm a 49-48 lead.
 
Neither team would score of the next 4:19 until a Bulldog bucket with 1:14 to play would give the lead back to the home team. They would tack on a final bucket with 13 seconds left as the Storm could not get a shot to fall over the final five minutes, falling 52-49.