Bison Cool Down in Second Half in Road Loss to Southeastern

DURANT, Okla. - It was another tale of two halves for the Oklahoma Baptist women's basketball team as an excellent first half which saw OBU hold a five point lead was thwarted by a tough second half including a dreadful third quarter to give the Bison 65-55 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon at the Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

The Bison shot 20 of 55 (36%) from the field and 4 of 17 (24%) from behind the arc. OBU was 11 of 15 (73%) from the charity stripe and turned the ball over 17 times on the day. 

Southeastern shot 23 of 50 (46%) from the field including a red hot 64 percent in the third quarter. The Savage Storm added 9 of 21 (42%) from deep and 10 of 12 (83%) from the line.

It was all OBU in the early going as a lay in from Andreja Peciuraite and a 3-pointer from Charissa Price opened up an early 5-0 lead for OBU. The Savage Storm came back to even it five and the duel was on in the early goings as OBU was hot from the field. 

Kayla Highfill knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to open up a 13-10 lead late in the first quarter while Jenni Beebe and Jacie Engler added buckets to end the quarter and take a 17-13 lead.

Highfill and Engler helped push that lead to 20-13 early in the second quarter before Southeastern went on a mini run after trading buckets to get it back down to four.

Leading 24-22 with three minutes to play, OBU got baskets from Price and Melissa Southard as well as a 3-pointer from River Romine to take a 30-25 lead at the break.

The third quarter is where the game flipped. OBU withstood their lead for much of the quarter as a Jaylin Stapleton steal and lay in gave OBU the lead back at 34-33. From there, Southeastern closed the third on a 15-4 run to blow the game open at take a 48-38 lead going to the fourth.

OBU did not go down quietly in the fourth after Southeastern extended the lead to a game high 16. The Bison were able to close it back to single digits, but it would not be enough as the Savage Storm earned a 10 point home win.

Highfill finished with a career-high 10 points and three boards while Peciuraite hit a career-high 11 rebounds to go with nine points. Kaylee Hurst and Romine each scored seven off the bench while Stapleton had six and a pair of steals.

Moon led the way for SE with 25 points while Kamryn Cantwell added 13 points and eight boards. Katie Branam added 11 points and five boards.

The Bison return to action on Monday as they welcome in rival Southern Nazarene for their first match up of the season. The Bison and Crimson Storm square off at 5:30 inside the Noble Complex on the Bison Sports Network.