Kilburn's 36 Powers SE to Win Over OBU

DURANT, Okla. – Tori Kilburn turned in a career-best 36 points to lead all scorers in the contest and power Southeastern to a 73-59 win over Ouachita Baptist on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 7-11 overall on the season and 4-8 in Great American Conference play heading into a showdown on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. with Henderson State.
 
Kilburn turned in her fourth-straight 20-point scoring effort and finished with 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting with a trio of threes and a 5-for-5 effort at the free throw line.
 
Mackenzie Espinosa joined her in double figures with 13 with a trio of made threes, with Kenzli Warden chipping in 11.
 
Akiera Hawk led the bench scoring with seven points.
 
Stevie Stinchcomb dished out a game-high five assists and the Storm finished with 18 as a team with Abbie Barr handing out four while Warden and Halli Hyatt dished out three apiece.
 
Kilburn led all players on the boards as well, hauling in nine rebounds while Stinchcomb grabbed eight.
 
Southeastern opened the game on a 9-2 run behind five Kilburn points, but back-to-back Tiger buckets trimmed the lead to three points by the 6:36 mark of the quarter.
 
The Storm again pulled away, outscoring OBU 15-8 thanks to 11 points from Espinosa over a three-minute span, including a trio of threes, taking a 24-14 lead.
 
Kilburn followed that with a three and SE closed the period on a 9-2 run to take a 33-16 lead into the first quarter break.
 
The Southeastern lead reached 21 points over the first two minutes of the second quarter and reached 23 points on a pair of Kilburn free throws, taking a 41-18 lead with 5:47 to play in the half.
 
The Storm followed with a scoreless streak that lasted the remainder of the quarter as the Tigers scored the final 11 points of the half and Southeastern took a 41-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
OBU chipped away at the SE lead over the first 6:30 of the third quarter, trimming the Storm advantage to 47-45 by the 3:22 mark of the quarter.
 
A Kilburn three ended that push followed by two Warden free throws and a Hawk three to extend the lead back to double figures at 55-45.
 
A Warden bucket with under a minute to play in the frame gave Southeastern a 57-45 lead heading to the fourth.
 
Another Kilburn three opened the final frame and the Storm would maintain its double-digit lead the remainder of the contest, peaking on a Warden three with 4:24 to play with a 71-52 lead before settling on a 73-59 final score.