One And Done

Southeastern made its third trip to the NCAA Tournament on Friday in the South Central Regional. The Savage Storm came up just short in their first round game matchup against Central Oklahoma, falling 68-66 in overtime. UCO is now 26-5 and moves on to play Washburn in the round of 32. SOSU ends this season at 21-9. Here's the boxscore.
These two evenly matched teams showed just how comparable they are through even the microcosm of this game. UCO won the first half 34-28; SOSU won the second half 34-28. The Storm scored the first four points of the OT and led 66-62 with about 3 minutes remaining, but wouldn't score again.
Destiny Brown led all scorers with 21 points and with her 18 rebounds put together her 19th double-double of the season. Ashley Tucker had 12 points in her final game for Southeastern. Fellow senior Channing Gann had 3 points and 4 assists.
Southeastern went only 25-65 from the field (38.5%). They were down 19-8 early on, due in large part to the many missed shots from close range and an abundance of turnovers. However, they came out with a lot of intensity after the break. Big defensive stands accompanied a little more patience on the offensive end turning it into quite a tight contest for the final 15 minutes of regulation and the extra session.
In the matchup between the teams' headliners, Brown beat Central's Lizzie Brenner easily. Brenner had only 7 points on a 1-6 shooting performance and had 6 boards.
Rose Anderson played the game of her life. She logged 41 minutes and had 19 points and 5 rebounds. Christina Yarbrough was the other key player for the Bronchos. The guard did a great job handling the ball for UCO (when she wasn't on the bench with foul trouble) and had 10 points, including the game-winner with 2 seconds left in OT.
Southeastern won 20 games in a season for the first time since 2002. The Storm will miss Tucker and Gann next year, but this post-season experience could play a big role in the next season's success.
Coach Darin Grover said that he believes Southeastern appearances in the post-season should be the rule and not the exception. This program is certainly on a pace to make that a reality.