Southeastern Holds On To Top ATU, 64-57

DURANT, Okla. – Caitlin Kobiske and Grace Alverson combined for 42 points and Southeastern held off a late push on its way to a 64-57 victory over Arkansas Tech Thursday night in the Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The Savage Storm improves to 7-12 overall on the season and 3-10 in Great American Conference play, while the Golden Suns slip to 9-8 overall and 6-7 in conference play.
 
SE returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. against Harding in the Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
Kobiske paced all scorers with 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting and wrapped up her third double-double of the season with a team-best 12 rebounds.
 
She was followed by Grace Alverson who turned in a season-high 15 points, hitting 5-of-11 overall form the field, including four threes.
 
Kenzli Warden was shy of double figures with seven points, while Holli Lindley added six.
 
Lindley joined Kobiske on the glass with double figure rebounds, hauling in 11 on the night.
 
Aimme Alverson handed out a team-best four assists, while Kobiske dished out three.
 
SE quickly fell behind 6-0 in the first 1:06 of the contest, but a Lindley bucket at the 8:36 mark would end the drought and trigger a 6-0 run for the Storm with a Warden bucket tying the game at 6-6 at the 7:18 mark.
 
The teams would trade buckets and ATU would push out to an 11-9 lead with 5:39 to go in the first quarter before both teams went quiet for the next 4:51 before a pair of Kobiske free throws tied the game and a Grace Alverson free throw with 23 ticks left gave the Storm a 12-11 lead at the first quarter break.
 
Southeastern would extend its lead to as many as six points twice in the second quarter, the last time with 3:39 to go in the half before the Golden Suns would cut the Storm advantage to just two points at 23-21 with 3:05 remaining in the second.
 
Bri Wietelman would connect on a layup with 2:02 to play and a three with 1:17 to go to extend the lead to 28-21 at the half.
 
The Storm opened the second half on a scoreless drought of 5:04 as ATU reeled off a 9-0 run in that span to take a 30-28 lead.
 
Alverson would connect on a three to end the drought and regain the lead, but the Suns would swipe the lead back, pushing it to four points before another Alverson three with 24 seconds to play in the third left SE trailing 42-41 at the final quarter break.
 
The deficit quickly grew to three points on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, but the ship would right quickly for Southeastern as it reeled off a 15-0 run capped by yet another Grace Alverson three to take the largest lead of the game by either team at 56-44 with 4:22 to play.
 
ATU would chip away at that edge though, getting it back to single digits with under three minutes to play and ultimately closing to five points with 23 seconds to play.
 
Kobiske would miss a pair of free throws to give the Suns an opportunity with 18 seconds on the clock, but she would then haul in the rebound on a missed three and would close out the game by going 4-for-4 at the line over the final 11 seconds to secure the 64-57 victory.