SE Athletics
BETHANY, Okla. – Tori Kilburn turned in 20 points to lead all scorers, but it was not enough to power Southeastern to a win as the Savage Storm dropped its 2026 opener 80-70 on the road against Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla. on Saturday.
The loss drops SE to 3-9 overall on the season an 0-6 in Great American Conference play.
Kilburn finished the contest with 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting and puled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Abbie Barr was next in line with 14, going 5-of-6 from the field, while Kenzli Warden closed the game with 11.
Halli Hyatt added seven with a pair of threes, while Stevie Stinchcomb came off the bench with five points in her first action since returning from injury.
Mackenzie Espinosa, in her first start, hit a three to open scoring in the contest and following a jumper and a Hyatt three, the Storm jumped to an early 8-2 lead.
The SE lead reached seven points by the midway point of the quarter after a pair of Kilburn free throws at 12-5.
Six Southeastern players got on the board in the opening quarter as the Storm maintained the lead throughout the remainder of the frame, hitting the first quarter break with an 18-12 lead.
SE scored the first four points of the second quarter to push its lead to 10 points, but SNU chipped that down to 26-18 by the midpoint of the second quarter, but the Crimson Storm came out of the media timeout and closed the quarter on an 11-3 run to tie the game at 29-29 at the half.
The Storm would shoot 58.3 percent from the field in the third quarter, but SNU nearly matched them at 56.3 percent and connected on two more threes and added a 9-pf-10 effort at the free throw line, taking the quarter 30-20 and carrying a 59-49 lead into the fourth quarter.
Southeastern cut the deficit to single digits on a Stinchcomb three with 8:27 to play, but the Crimson Storm had an answer and the Storm would not get it to single digits again until there was less than a minute to play, ultimately settlign the final score at 80-70.