Playing before the largest crowd of the season last week, Southeastern cruised to dominant wins over rival East Central in Great American Conference basketball action.
Coach Darin Grover’s ladies were 66-46 winners and the men belted the Tigers, 92-65, in the nightcap.
The Savage Storm women followed with a defensive road triumph at Southwestern (5344) while wrapping up their slot in the league postseason tournament. Southeastern’s men dropped an 85-75 verdict to the Bulldogs.
Women
A sizzling start set the tone for Southeastern in the East Central win as they connected on a whopping 78 percent from the field en route to the 21-7 edge through one frame.
They tacked on even more in building a 35-14 halftime cushion and 63-29 at the end of three stanzas while coasting the rest of the way.
Offensive balance was definitely the story with 10 players all getting in on the scoring led by 13 points from Kenzli Warden and 11 by Caitlin Kobiske.
Ashton Hackler and Holli Lindley each tallied nine, Stevie Stinchcomb had eight and Abbie Barr scored six.
The Southwestern matchup was a defensive tussle throughout with each team only managing nine first quarter points.
Grover’s unit surged in front, ultimately for good, with a 15-5 second period flurry in which they connected on six of 12 from the field. The hosts narrowed the gap to 3633 after three frames before Southeastern closed with its largest scoring stanza of the day with 17, fueled by Warden as she pitched in a game-high 17 points.
Barr also reached double digits with 11 as Stinchcomb added seven and Kobiske had six.
Men
Head coach Kelly Green couldn’t have even imagined a better first half against East Central as the Savage Storm rode the momentum of a rowdy crowd to a massive 5534 lead.
Southeastern scorched the nets for 55 percent shooting, including a blistering nine for 17 from three-point range during the blazing start.
While the shooting cooled considerably following the halftime break, the hosts still had enough power to forge a 37-31 edge after intermission and steadily pulled away led by the red-hot Landon Condiff, who connected for 10 of 19 from the field, five of which were three pointers, for 26 points.
In total, five Savage Storm players tallied double figures. Chandler Dickinson nearly notched a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds while Robert Briley did tack on one with 15 points and 12 boards.
Jalen Williams and Ethan Wilkerson tossed in 11 points each as Southeastern tallied a whopping 40 points in the paint.
It was Southwestern that got off to the blazing start in the weekend contest, taking a 48-36 advantage over the Savage Storm on the strength of 63 percent shooting while Green’s club connected on 52 percent.
Santiago Camacho Gomez came through with his best scoring effort of the season with 18 points. Dickinson contributed 15 along with nine rebounds while Condiff and D.J. Dill pumped in 14 points apiece.
