SE Athletics
Matt Thomas
DURANT – Caitlin Kobiske turned in 16 points and hit a career milestone in rebounds but it was not enough to lift Southeastern to a win in the fall semester finale versus Southern Nazarene on Thursday night, falling in the Battle of the Storms 66-56 in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 6-5 overall on the season and 3-2 in Great American Conference play heading into the holiday break.
Kobiske’s 16 points would lead Southeastern as she went 5-of-11 from the field and 5-of-5 at the free throw line while pulling down five boards.
Those five rebounds were the exact number she needed to reach the milestone of 500 for her career, becoming the 13th player in women’s basketball program history to reach that number.
Kenzli Warden was right behind on the night with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
Abbie Barr would hit a pair of threes and finish with six points, while Holli Lindley and Ashton Hackler turned in five apiece.
Lindley would haul in a team-high six boards, while Warden and Stevie Stinchcomb would ad five each. The pair would also lead SE in assists with three piece.
Both offenses were slow out of the gate, alternating buckets throughout the frame before the Crimson Storm had the last word, hitting a bucket with 32 seconds to go in the first to take a 12-10 lead at the break.
The pace picked up in the second quarter with the teams continuing to trade buckets in the early going until SE broke the monotony, first with a Kobiske three-point play and then with an Abbie Barr three, taking a 22-18 lead at the 5:51 mark.
SNU would close the gap to 24-23with four minutes to play in the half, but threes from Kobiske and Ashton Hackler would give the Storm its largest lead of the first half at 30-23.
The Crimson Storm would answer with seven straight to tie the contest, but an Eryn Dolan bucket at the buzzer would give the Savage Storm a 32-30 lead at the halftime break.
SE maintained its lead early in the second half, twice pushing it to four points before SNU reeled off a 20-6 run over the final 7:53 of the third quarter to take a 52-41 lead heading into the fourth.
The Savage Storm would chip away in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to single digits on a Barr three with 5:56 to play and closing the gap al the way down to 57-52 on a Warden three in transition with 2:02 to play, but that was as close as SE would get as SNU would edge away to a 66-56 win.