ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita women's basketball team got off to a slow start and could never fully recover resulting in a 60-55 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon at home.
The Tigers (7-7, 5-5 GAC) were held to just one made field goal in the first five minutes, but fought back to take a 10-9 lead on a three-pointer from
Audri Winfrey at the 3:09 mark of the first period. Southeastern (5-11, 1-9 GAC) responded with a 7-0 run that stretched into the first minute of the second period to take a 16-10 lead.
The Savage Storm went on to outscore the Tigers 19-18 during the second period and held a 33-28 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
Ouachita came out of the break on fire, hitting 7-of-11 shots in the third period, outscoring Southeastern 17-14 during the frame to make it a one-score game heading into the fourth with the Storm leading 47-45. In the final 10 minutes, Southeastern held its lead, despite Ouachita getting to within two on a layup from
Grayson Fairless with 7:13 remaining and to within three in the final minute on a three-pointer by
Madeleine Tipton.
The final stats were almost even across the board with the lone exception a four-percentage point advantage in shooting and three more made shots for the Savage Storm. Southeastern made 22-of-56 shots. Ouachita made 19-of-53.
Fairless tied Southeastern's Kenzli Warden for the game-high in points with 15. Tipton and Winfrey also reached double-digits in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively. It was a career-high in points for Winfrey, who was 4-for-6 from the field.
Joey Babel turned in a game-high 11 rebounds, which also set a new career high. Babel also added a game-high five assists.
The Tigers wrap their current three-game homestand next Thursday, January 25 against cross-street rival Henderson State. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at Vining Arena.
