BETHANY, Okla. — As Southern Nazarene University Head Coach Lori Carter prepared for her postgame interview, she quickly checked her pulse and took a deep breath as Southern Nazarene survived a 62-59 gut check against Northwestern Oklahoma State.
The Crimson Storm (20-5, 14-3 SAC) trailed 55-47 with 4:49 left in the game, but closed on a 15-4 run and went 9-for-11 at the free throw line in the final four minutes to clinch it. The win also marks Carter's fifth 20-win season.
“I'm proud that we found a way to win in a game that easily could have gone the other way,” said Carter. “We found out what we were made of late. In this league you can just take records and throw them out the window. We had some defensive breakdowns and they hit some wide open shots in the second half. We always tell our kids to not look at the records, but thankfully we hit those late free throws and pulled this one out.”
Oumoul Thiam led the way with 16 points as she went 5-for-11 from the field and was a perfect 5-for-5 at the line. Thiam also pulled down four rebounds and handed out four assists. Abbey Marra and Logan Martin were both just short of a double-double as Marra scored 14 points and grabbed nine boards while Martin had 13 points and eight rebounds. Martin also had four assists. Jamie Bottger was also in double figures with 11 points and recorded four rebounds and four assists as well. Sharmeda Johnson picked up eight points and recorded 10 rebounds along with four blocks and four steals.
It was Thiam who sparked the game-ending run with a pair of free throws before she cut it to 55-51 with a jumper. Johnson then added two from the line before Martin tied at 57 with two more free throws. After the Lady Rangers took a 59-57 lead with 2:04 remaining, Johnson tied again with a layup. Marra then came up with a key block before Bottger gave SNU its first lead since the 13:32 mark in the second half with a free throw. Northwestern missed a trey and a jumper in the final minute before Thiam drove in the final nail with a trey.
Southern Nazarene shot 33.9 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from downtown. It looked like SNU might be back to its normal form after going 4-for-9 in the first half from the perimeter, but the Storm went just 1-for-6 in the second half. It was almost the opposite from the line as SNU went just 5-for-9 in the first half, but hit 14 of its 19 attempts in the second half.
SNU won the battle of the boards, 48-38, as that came up huge on two misses by the Lady Rangers down the stretch. The Storm were able to take advantage of just one free throw attempt by Northwestern in the first half and the Lady Rangers went to the line just seven times the whole game.
The Crimson Storm now hit the road for the next couple of weeks, but won't have to travel too far Saturday when they jaunt over to Oklahoma Christian for a 6 p.m. SAC game.
