SE Closes Road Trip with Loss at ATU

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Kenzli Warden and Tori Kilburn each put up 20 points but it was not enough to lift Southeastern on the backend of a two-game road swing as the Savage Storm fell at Arkansas Tech 96-71 on Saturday afternoon in Russellville, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 5-11 overall on the season and 2-8 in Great American Conference play heading into a rivalry showdown next Thursday, Jan. 22 versus East Central at 5:30 p.m. in Ada, Okla.
 
Warden put up a team-high 21 points, shooting 50.0 percent formt he field and knocking down a pair of threes, adding a pair of steals on defense.
 
Kilburn was right behind with 20 on 7-of-8 shooting with a 5-of-6 effort at the free throw line and three steals on defense.
 
Katie Allen was next in line for the Storm with nine after draining a trio of threes, while Chloe Eversole chipped in six.
 
SE finished the contest shooting 48.1 percent from the field and hitting eight threes, but had to counter a 50.0 percent shooting effort from the Golden Suns who hit 13 threes.
 
The Storm started strong, scoring the first five points of the game and leading by as many as six in the first quarter before settling on a 24-21 advantage at the first quarter break.
 
After ATU tied the game early in the second quarter SE responded, regaining the lead and pushing it out to eight points at 41-33 on an Eversole jumper with 3:34 to play in the first half.
 
The Golden Suns finished the half on an 11-0 run and held a 44-41 edge at the half.
 
ATU opened the second half on a14-5 run to push its lead to 12 points, but an Allen three ended that run and trimmed the deficit to nine points at the 5:29 mark.
 
The Suns followed with a 9-2 run to push the lead to 16 points and held a 75-57 edge at the end of three quarters.
 
The Storm was unable to cut into the deficit as it would grow to a high of 28 before trimming it to a 96-71 final score.