Alva Review-Courier -

DURANT, Okla. – Turnovers were costly for Southeastern as it dropped a narrow contest on Thursday night, 68-67, to Southern Arkansas in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

The loss drops the Savage Storm to 8-11 overall on the year and 6-8 in Great American Conference play.

"One possession," said head coach Darin Grover. "It could be a rebound. it could be a free-throw. it could be a turnover. it's one possession, and they have to value every single one of them. We don't do that consistently. We just don't have enough players that come play well. "

"We needed to disrupt their rhythm a little more," he continued. "We tried to zone them, and they shot us out of the zone. Whatever we tried didn't work, and credit to them for knowing them down."

SE gave up 20 points on 17 turnovers in the contest and only picked up 11 off the turnovers they were able to force on SAU.

Courtney Brady led the way in scoring with 13 points on the back of three threes, while Taten Hyde and Tracy Johnson came off the bench to add 10 and 11 points, respectively. Sa'Liesha Hunter finished with eight points.

Brady and Ariannah Kemp dished out a team-best three assists each.

Brady hauled in a team-high eight rebounds, while the Storm held a narrow 36-to-35 edge on the glass.

The teams traded buckets out of the gate with SAU holding the edge early until a Brady three dropped through to knot the game at 11-11 at the 3:42 mark of the first quarter.

The teams would trade one point leads until the Muleriders edged ahead 17-15 with a three, but a pair of Tracy Johnson free throws with 1:00 to go in the quarter would tie the game at 17-17 at the first break.

SAU would jump ahead and pull out to a 26-21 lead just over midway through the second before the Storm kicked the offense in motion and scored seven straight to go up 28-26 on a Hunter layup before ultimately going to the half once again tied, this time at 30-30.

Southeastern took the lead in the third, hitting 6-of-11 from the field with three threes, while hitting 10-of-12 at the free throw line to open up a 55-52 lead after three quarters.

A Johnson layup would stretch the lead to five points to open the fourth quarter, but a 10-0 Mulerider run would erase that advantage and put SAU up 62-57 with 4:47 to play.

The Storm stayed close, tying the game at 67-67 with 15 seconds to play when Hunter knocked down a pair of free throws.

The Muleriders would hit a free throw with 13 seconds to play and SE would have the last shot but could not get it to fall.