After continuing their red-hot shooting in a road victory last week, the Southeastern women’s basketball team saw its three-game win streak snapped in a 65-59 loss Saturday at Northeastern.
The Savage Storm had opened the week with one of their best offensive quarters in recent memory to race past Midwestern State by a 97-59 count earlier in the week. Now 3-3 on the season, Coach Darin Grover’s squad began conference action back on the road at Henderson State on Thursday.
Facing Midwestern, it was an early Savage Storm avalanche that included a massive 37-point opening quarter as the visitors came out smoking and never cooled off while sinking a blistering nine three pointers in the first 10-minute period.
Southeastern’s lead was 52-31 at intermission when they came out of the break with another huge burst in a 28-13 run that put the game away. The Savage storm sank 12 of 15 field goal tries in the third frame for a scorching 80 percent shooting overall.
With the big advantage early on and through three stanzas, there was plenty of opportunity for Grover to utilize the bench, which came up with a whopping 47 points on the night.
Five Southeastern players posted double figures in points in a well-balanced attack that was fueled by 16 points from Kenzli Warden, who also pulled down six rebounds and dished out four assists. They finished with 13 three pointers as a team.
Mackenzie Espinosa tallied 14 points with 12 coming from Abbie Barr. Tori Hilburn contributed 11 and Katie Allen had 10 points. Seven others reached the scoring column with Chloe Eversole topping that group with seven points.
Southeastern foul difficulties and a 3110 free throw advantage by Northeastern was the biggest key in the Savage Storm streak coming to halt. The Savage Storm held the lead most of the way with a 1410 edge after one frame, 30-23 at halftime and 43-41 at the end three periods.
One player that was not fazed by the aggressive defensive style was Kilburn as the freshman poured in a season-high 26 points, six rebounds and four assists while connecting on 10 of 14 shooting from the field.
Espinosa also reached double figures with 11 points but Warden, the team’s leading scorer, was limited to just two points in 38 minutes.
Twenty-three turnovers proved costly as well for the Savage Storm, who were outrebounded 40-29 overall.
