Facing the top two teams in the league standings, including the 10th ranked team in the nation with their postseason hopes in the balance was definitely a huge task for the Southeastern women’s basketball team last week.
All Darin Grover’s Savage Storm did was pull off the sweep and continue an improbable late season flurry that has them on the brink of the league tournament as arguably the hottest team in the Great American Conference.
With a 74-56 win over Arkansas Tech and 75-65 overtime thriller over 10th ranked Harding, the Southeastern women have won nine of their last 10 league contests heading into the final week of the regular season. That also got their over the .500 mark record- wise for the first time since November.
The Savage Storm men came ever so close to a sweep on their end as well, dumping Arkansas Tech (61-47) before falling to Harding (70-65).
Women
Southeastern cashed in 15 Arkansas Tech turnovers into 15 points, dominated the boards and connected on 23 of 31 at the charity stripe to steadily pull away from the Golden Suns.
The Savage Storm had the scoring edge in every period, leading 17-13 after one quarter, 37-29 at the half and 55-46 through three stanzas. Southeastern shot just 43 percent for the game but limited the visitors to only 31 percent shooting.
As has been the case during much of their late season surge, the Southeastern women rode the one-two punch of Kenzli Warden and Tori Kilburn in cruising to victory.
Warden sank nine of 18 from the field while pouring in 28 points along with seven rebounds. Kilburn meanwhile connected on nine of 14 field goals with 26 points and a whopping 16 rebounds for a massive double-double.
The Harding showdown was a nip and tuck affair through four quarters but Southeastern took command with a tremendous overtime blitz. Stevie Stinchcomb scored five straight Savage Storm points following an opening three pointer from Mackenzie Espinosa to fuel the win.
Defense fueled the triumph, holding the visitors to a dismal 28 percent shooting percentage for the night.
Southeastern had five players in double figures, sparked by Warden’s 22 points. Kilburn tallied another double-double with 16 points and 12 boards.
Espinosa pitched in 13 points, Stinchcomb had 11 and Katie Allen scored 10.
Men
A low-scoring first half against Arkansas Tech had the Savage Storm ahead 23-21 before each caught fire offensively after the break.
Coach Kelly Green’s squad sank 15 of 32 from the field for 47 percent, including six treys over the final 20 minutes that was spurred by junior Deondre Dunn, who finished with a game-high 20 points and four steals.
Santiago Camacho Gomez and Ethan Scott each connected for 11 points as Southeastern’s scoring leaders Chandler Dickinson and Ethan Wilkerson were limited to two and eight points respectively.
Facing Harding, the Savage Storm held a slim 3331 edge at halftime but watched the visitors shoot 52 percent after the break to take a slight edge down the stretch.
A 14-3 scoring burst midway through the half gave the Bisons the lead which they would never relinquish.
Dickinson was the scoring catalyst once again with 18 points and eight rebounds to pace the Savage Storm. Wilkerson tossed in 14, Dunn had 12 and Camacho Gomez tallied 10.
