DURANT, Okla. – Harding could not overcome cold shooting in the fourth quarter and struggled at the free-throw line throughout and fell 65-63 to Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday in Great American Conference action at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Lady Bisons and dropped the team to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Southeastern ended a three-game losing streak and improved to 4-7 overall and 2-4 in conference. Harding returns to Searcy next weekend to take on conference leaders Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday and Southern Nazarene on Saturday.
The game was tied at 63-63 but a Harding foul with 1.2 seconds remaining sent Southeastern to the free throw line where two free throws gave the Savage Storm the victory.
Harding trailed 59-57 entering the fourth quarter but missed its first six shots and made only 3 of 14 from the field in the last 10 minutes and hit only 6 of 12 free throws. The Lady Bisons shot 14 of 27 (51.9%) at the free-throw line for the game.
Jacie Evans led Harding with 20 points, her third game with 20 or more points this season and the seventh of her career. She was 6 of 10 from the field and 7 of 10 from the foul line.
Kendrick Bailey made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points. Sage Hawley had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Rory Geer had her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Harding made 9 of 11 shots in the first quarter and led 21-16 after one. The Lady Bisons hit three 3-pointers in the period, including two from Bailey.
Harding led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, but a late 9-2 Southeastern run cut the Lady Bison advantage to 39-33 at halftime. Harding shot 54% in the first half and made six 3-pointers. Southeastern stayed close by outscoring Harding 15-4 off turnovers.
Southeastern tied the game at 48-48 on a 3-pointer with 2:07 left in the third quarter, and took the lead 51-50 on a 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining. Harding shot just 33% in the period, going 5 of 15 from the field.