Kobiske Ices SE Win over Golden Suns

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.  – Southeastern had four players score in double figures and Caitlin Kobiske drained a pair of game-icing free throws with eight seconds to play to lift the Savage Storm to a 72-68 win over Arkansas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Russellville, Ark.
 
The win snaps an eight-game losing skid for SE which improves to 5-15 overall and 3-12 in Great American Conference play.
 
Kobiske led the way for the Storm with 17 points, shooting 50.0 percent from the floor.
 
Grace Alverson was next in line with 13 points, while Macy Bookout added 12 and Briley Moon turned in 10 points.
 
In all, eight players scored for Southeastern, with Allie Buchanon adding seven points off the bench, while Lauryn Scalice and Abbie Barr chipped in five with Lauren Beason adding three.
 
SE headed into the final frame trailing by eight points and a pair of Golden Sun free throws would push that to 10 points less than a minute into the quarter.
 
Buchannon would answer with a jumper which would trigger a 19-5 run by the Storm, turning a 10-point deficit into a 61-57 lead with 4:11 to play in the game.
 
ATU would answer with the next five points to take a 62-61 lead with 3:16 to play, but a Barr three would put the Storm back in front.
 
The Suns would tie the game on a layup with 2:45 to play, but a pair of Bookout free throws at the 2:32 mark would put SE back in front by two.
 
The teams would tie again at 66-66 and at 68-68 with 1:25 remaining.
 
Alverson would break that tie with a jumper with 17 second to play and after forcing a miss on the defensive end, Kobiske would haul in the rebound and draw a foul with eight seconds remaining.
 
She would knock down both free throws to push the lead to 72-68 which would hold up as the final margin.
 
The teams played to a pair of early ties, first at 4-4 and then at 8-8 after each team put together a pair of four-point runs.
 
SE would break that tie with a Kobiske bucket, but ATU would answer with a 9-0 run before Macy Bookout would end that run with a bucket to end the quarter with the Storm trailing 17-12.
 
Southeastern would close that gap early in the second with buckets from Bookout, Kobiske, and a three from Alverson which would narrow the deficit to 20-19 by the 6:49 mark.
 
The Golden Suns would answer with a 6-0 run, but the Storm had a response of their own as Bookout hit a layup and Moon drained a three to close the gap to 26-24 with 2:33 to play in the half.
 
That would ultimately be the margin at halftime as ATU took a 30-26 lead at the break.
 
ATU would score the first points out of the half, but SE would score eight of the next 11 points to narrow the deficit to 36-34 at the 6:43 mark of the third quarter.
 
Arkansas Tech would then use an 8-0 run to take its largest lead at 44-34 before an Alverson jumper and a Lauren Beason three cut that in half to 44-39.
 
SE was unable to close the gap any further in the quarter as the Golden Suns pushed ahead to a 50-42 lead after three quarters.