SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark.— The first one is in the book for No. 16 Southern Nazarene as SNU knocked off Oklahoma Baptist, 73-66, in the quarterfinals of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Crimson Storm (23-8) advance to the semifinals where they will meet No. 4 Lubbock Christian, who beat Northwestern Oklahoma State, 87-57.

Oumoul Thiam scored a game-high 22 points and added five assists and three rebounds. The junior guard hit a career-high 11 free throws, going 11-for-14 at the line and she also drained a trio of 3-pointers. Sharmeda Johnson chipped in with 19 points and seven boards as she went 8-for-12 from the field. Logan Martin took just five shots, going 3-for-5 from the field as all three buckets were from beyond the arc. She was also 5-for-9 from the line and she pulled down six rebounds. Abbey Marra also had 10 points and 16 rebounds.

“OBU really picked up their defensive intensity in the second half and that forced us to take them off the dribble,” said Carter. “Oumoul did a great job of taking the ball to the hole and we stepped up and hit when we needed to. We needed her and Sharmeda to step up with Logan being in foul trouble and both came up big.”

OBU outscored SNU in the paint, 38-20, and had 19 points off of 18 SNU turnovers. The Lady Bison bench also out did the Storm's reserves, 25-8, but the difference came at the line as the Storm went 23-for-31. OBU went to the line just 11 times.

SNU shot 38.6 percent (22-for-57) from the field and were 6-for-18 from 3-point range. The Lady Bison shot 39.1 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from 3-point range.

The Crimson Storm looked to be on its way to a route after taking a 29-14 lead with 8:06 left in the first half, but the Lady Bison cut the deficit down to 11 at 39-28 at the end of the first. SNU led 47-34 with 15:51 in the second, but OBU went on a 9-2 run to get with six at 49-43. The Storm pushed it back to eight twice, but Oklahoma Baptist fired again with run to cut it to 56-54 with 8:12 to play.

That was as close as OBU came the rest of the way as Southern Nazarene hit just enough to keep the Lady Bison at bay.

SNU will now play Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. Friday in the semifinals, with the winner playing the winner of Oklahoma City and Saint Gregory's.

“It's good to get that first one out of the way,” said Carter. “Now we have to get prepared for a great team in Lubbock. They shot it very well today and make it difficult for defenses.”