DURANT, Okla. – Katie Webb posted a career-high 36 points and helped Southeastern survive a road scare in a 75-61 victory over Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Magnolia, Ark.
The win is the team's fourth in-a-row and lifts them to 9-4 overall on the year and 7-2 in Great American Conference play. That mark is good for second in the league standings heading into a Jan. 17 rivalry matchup with East Central at 5:30 p.m. in Ada, Okla.
"Things weren't going our way in the second half at all," said head coach Darin Grover, "I was a little disappointed we let them get shots and get back in it. But they were giving us layups and Katie Branam and Katie Webb took advantage of that.
Southeastern led by 13 after the first quarter and was up by as many as 19 in the second before SAU rallied, closing the gap to a narrow as four points in the second half.
Overall the Storm hit 49.0 percent from the field but had one of its lowest three-point outputs of the season, hitting 4-of-14, but were able to salvage those points with a 21-of-26 effort at the free throw line.
Webb averaged a point per minute when she was on the floor and did it hitting 12-of-20 from the floor and 12-of-15 at the free throw line to finish with 36 points, topping her previous career-high of 30 points scored in the same gym in Magnolia, Ark., a season ago. It is also the best single-game scoring outing by a player in the GAC this season, besting the previous mark of 32 points.
"You give Katie Webb a one on one situation," said Grover of Webb's performance, "She's going to win a lot of those. You want to cover Katie Webb one on one we're going to take that."
Webb was joined in double-digits by Briley Moon who hit both threes she took and finished with 12 points, while Branam turned in 11 points on a 5-of-7 effort from the floor.
Webb also dished out a team-best three assists.
Kamryn Cantwell turned in eight points and saw her streak of consecutive games in double-digits come to an end, but she led the team on the boards with six, while Webb, Moon, and Alix Robinson pulled down five each.
SE opened the game on a 12-2 run to reach a double-figure lead by the 4:42 mark of the opening quarter and after a Webb jumper in the final minute of the frame the Storm took a 20-7 lead into the second.
The lead grew quickly to 19 points on a Branam layup, but an SAU 8-2 run to close out the half would cut the SE lead to 39-28 at halftime.
Southeastern maintained the lead at or near double-figures for much of the third quarter until a late Mulerider run of 7-2 would cut the Storm advantage to 56-51 heading to the final quarter.
Two free throws by Webb and two more from Moon would give Southeastern come early breathing room, and a Moon three would eventually stretch the edge out to 63-53 at the 8:34 mark.
Another SAU push would close the gap to 63-57 with 3:53 to play, but Webb buckets on the next two possessions, with a free throw tacked on would push the Storm lead back to 67-57 with 3:05 to play.
Southeastern would go 7-of-8 at the free throw line over the final two minutes to pull away with a 75-61 win.
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