SHAWNEE, Okla. — The fire that was burning inside Lori Carter came out in a brief challenge to her Southern Nazarene team late in the second half on the bench after a timeout and fueled the 16th-ranked Crimson Storm to a 56-53 win over Saint Gregory's.

Southern Nazarene trailed 42-38 with 9:25 left to play after the Lady Cavaliers used a 12-0 run then came Carter's rant followed by a 10-4 run as SNU climbed back into the lead at 48-44 with 4:52 left. SNU pushed its lead to 54-49 with 2:01 left before SGU closed it to one. Abbey Marra put the game away with a pair of free throws and then didn't give any looks to the Lady Cavs in the final seconds to score the win.

The win for the Crimson Storm (12-4, 6-2 SAC) is the second straight by three points are less, but the win keeps SNU solidly in third place.

Marra finished the night with a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds as she went 8-for-11 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. Sharmeda Johnson added 13 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals off of the bench and over half of those points at the line going 7-for-10. Oumoul Thiam also had 10 points.

SNU went 21-for-51 from the field (41.2 percent) and were held to just two 3-pointers. Both of those treys came off of the hand of Kristin Milster who finished with six points.

The Crimson Storm were out rebounded by 16, the largest margin of any opponent this year, as SGU pulled down 45 compared to just 29 by SNU.

Southern Nazarene will now get set to host Oklahoma Baptist, Saturday, for a 3 p.m. SAC contest.