Chelsea Savage poured in 35 points to help the SCC Lady Storm hold off McCook Community College, 79-75, in overtime, on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Truman Center.
The New Zealand native was nearly perfect from the free throw line, hitting 14-15.
Southeast struggled out of the gate, falling behind 17-6. Southeast climbed their way back into the game, thanks to some timely three point shots by Toniesha Rainey and Makayla McDaniel.
The Lady Indians owned the boards in the first half, outrebounding SCC 33-17. MCC also benefited from outstanding front court play from Cyndee Ceballos (16 points) and Janecia Jenkins (20 points).
Head Coach Vicki Wooton said she told the team at halftime they had to do a better job of free throw shooting and play better defense on McCook’s “Bigs.”
The Lady Storm came out of the halftime break and swarmed McCook, outscoring the Lady Indians, 11-2.
A back and forth battle ensued from that point, resulting in the game going into overtime.
Wooton said McCook was focused on stopping Savage near the end of the game, but she was still able to get to the basket.
“They were playing a Box and 1 (defense), and we just had our 4 and 5 (position players) set screens down low for her,” Wooton explained.
Southeast outscored McCook 11-7 in the overtime period, to close out the win.
The coach said the team was focused at the end of regulation.
“I think they decided there was no way they were going to lose that overtime,” Wooton concluded.