Kobiske's Career Night Lifts SE to Win

DURANT, Okla. – Caitlin Kobiske poured in a career-high 38 points and Southeastern shot 66.0 percent from the floor as a team en route to a commanding 88-53 win over Southern Arkansas on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win is the second in-a-row for the Savage Storm who improve to 6-15 overall and 4-12 in Great American Conference play heading into a Saturday afternoon matchup with Arkansas-Monticello at 1 p.m.
 
Kobiske was nearly unstoppable as she went 15-of-18 from the floor and added an 8-of-11 effort from the free throw line on her way to 38 points, leading a foursome of double-digit SE scorers.
 
Grace Alverson was next in line with 13 thanks to a 3-for-4 three-point shooting performance, while Abbie Barr finished with 12 points.
 
Briley Moon closed the night with 10 points to move closer to the number two spot on the career scoring list, needing just nine points to tie and 10 points to move into second place all time.
 
SE's 66.0 percent shooting effort is the best performance in the league since the 2018-19 season.
 
Moon led all rebounders with nine, while Kobiske pulled down seven, with Alverson and Lauren Beason each grabbing six.
 
Southeastern held a 40-to-30 edge on the glass as a team.
 
Barr led the game with seven assists and Alverson dished out six as the team combined for 20.
 
SAU scored first, but SE answered with its first run of many, scoring the next seven points to take a 7-2 lead just under three minutes into the game.
 
The Muleriders would tie the game at 7-7, but Southeastern responded with a 14-0 run capped by an Alverson bucket to take a 21-7 lead with 2:54 remaining in the opening frame.
 
SAU would get that gap back to nine points before the Storm closed with the final points to take a 25-12 lead after one quarter.
 
Two minutes into the second quarter on a Kobiske layup the Storm lead would hit the 20-point mark, but it would peak there as the Muleriders would chip away at the Storm advantage, closing to within 10 points at 41-31 before SE would get an Alverson three to take a 44-31 lead at the halftime break.
 
An SAU three would open second half scoring, but SE scored the4 next six points and by the time Kobiske sank a pair of free throws with 2:56 to play in the third the lead had ballooned back beyond 20 points at 63-42, ultimately ending the frame at 67-44.
 
Southeastern would score the first nine points of the fourth quarter and never look back, pulling away for the 88-53 win.