SE Opens 2024 With Loss at No. 20 HU

SEARCY, Ark. – Despite a solid start, Southeastern was unable to maintain that momentum into the second half on Thursday night in a 67-52 road loss at No. 20 Harding in Searcy, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 4-7 overall ont he season and 0-5 in Great American Conference play heading into a Saturday afternoon matchup with Arkansas Tech at 3 p.m. in Russellville, Ark.

"Turnovers," Said head coach Darin Grover, "And they hit their threes and we didn't hit our threes. It's not that we shot horribly from three, but we didn't shoot well enough. The goal is to hold someone to under 40 percent overall, and we did that, but they knocked their threes down and we did not counter."
 
Caitlin Kobiske led all scorers with 18 points, hitting 7-of15 from the floor with a pair of threes while adding a team-high five rebounds.
 
Holli Lindley was next in line with 12 points on 5-kof-6 shooting with four boards, while Abbie Barr came off the bench to add 11 points.
 
Bri Wietelman added seven points as well, with Kenzli Warden and Grace Alverson each adding a bucket to round out the scoring.
 
SE hit 40.0 percent in the opening quarter and followed with a 66.7 percent effort in the second, but would slip in the second half, going 4-of-11 in the third and 4-of-16 in the fourth.
 
The Storm defense held the Bisons under 40 percent from the field overall and is the first team this season to hold Bisons leader Sage Hawley to single digits at six points.
 
In the opening quarter, a Wietelman three would kick off a 13-3 run for the Storm as they would mount a 13-6 lead following a Kobiske three-point play with 3:19 to play in the frame.
 
The SE offense would go without points for the final three minutes of the quarter, but still take a 13-8 lead into the first quarter break.
 
That dry spell continued for the first 1:19 of the second quarter before a Kenzli Warden layup triggered a 6-0 run to break a tie and put SE ahead 19-13 by the 7:34 mark.
 
HU would score the next six points and tie the game at 19-19 before the teams traded the lead six times before the Bisons hit a trio of threes over the final 2:40 as part of a 9-3 run to leva ethe Storm trailing 34-28 at the half.
 
After the teams traded buckets to open the third quarter, HU would use a 12-2 run to push its lead to 49-34 with 3:31 to go in the frame.
 
SE answered with six straight that included a Lindley three, but the Bisons would take a 52-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
A Barr three and a Wietelman layup to open the fourth would close the gap to 52-45, and after trading buckets would trail by nine points with 4:29 to play, but HU would score the next seven points and close the gap on a 9-3 run end the Storm comeback in a 67-52 loss.