SE Athletics
Matt Thomas, Sports Information Director
WEATHERFORD – The turnover battle and rebounding compounded an already tough matchup for Southeastern en route to a 101-64 loss on Saturday afternoon in Weatherford, Okla.
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 1-1 overall on the season as well as in Great American Conference Western Division Play heading into a Monday night matchup with rival East Central in the home opener at Bloomer Sullivan Arena at 5:30 p.m.
“Experience has something to do with it,” said head coach Darin Grover. “The biggest disappointment was us turning it over as much as we did against their press and even in the half court. I also think they did a good job of getting through the zone. They’ve got a lot of great players so it’s kind of pick your poison. We’ve got to turn around and go to practice tomorrow and get ready to turn around and face East Central.”
Carrie Johnson was the leading scorer for the Storm with 13 points with a pair of threes, while Haiden Williams was the only other player in double figures. Jordan Benson and Aimee Alverson added nine points each.
Benson finished with three assist, while Katie Branam and Maddie Martin hauled in a team high seven rebounds each.
Southeastern struggled on the glass as the Bulldogs out-rebounded the Storm 65-44, bolstered by a 22-5 edge on the offensive glass.
Turnovers also proved costly as the Storm were bitten by 27 on the contest opposed to forcing just 11 SWOSU miscues.
Southeastern got off to a slow start, falling behind 8-0 out of the gate before a Katie Branam three would fall at the 7:10 mark.
A Johnson layup would close the gap to three points near the midway point of the quarter, and the deficit would remain beyond three points, reaching 13-7 with 2:30 to go in the quarter.
SE would close strong however, scoring the final nine points of the quarter, with a Johnson three putting the Storm up 16-13 after one quarter.
The Bulldogs would again reel off a run to open the quarter, this one 8-0 to take a 21-16 lead at the 7:06 mark.
A Benson jumper would break the run and the Storm would rally to knot the game at 26-26 with 3:47 to go in the half.
After two more ties, the last at 30-30 with 2:02 to play on a pair of Bookout free throws, SWOSU would finish the quarter on a 7-1 run and SE trailed 37-31 at the half.
Southeastern would close to within two points on a Benson free throw at the 8:03 mark to make it 40-38, before the Bulldogs would push the lead back out to 10 points before a late quarter push left SE trailing 65-52 at the quarter break.
The fourth quarter was all SWOSU as the Storm shot under 30 percent in the frame while the Bulldogs hit better than 50 percent, outscoring SE 36-12 in the final quarter en route to a 101-64 loss.