BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene faced quite the task in its first game of the new calendar year. Playing for the first time in three weeks, the Crimson Storm were tasked in facing Arkansas-Monticello, a team that had won five consecutive games and sat in second place in the Great American Conference. Despite shooting 44.4 percent from the field, SNU came up just short in the end, falling 83-74 to the Cotton Blossoms.
 
The Crimson Storm (2-6, 1-4 GAC) fell behind early, allowing the Cotton Blossoms to jump out to a 22-6 lead out of the gate. UAM shot 7-of-9 during the run, led by 10 points from Taylor Collins. SNU answered back with a 16-7 run of its own, making it a 29-25 game early in the second quarter.
 
Monticello responded with another run, building a 15-point lead with a 12-1 run. Southern Nazarene then narrowed the gap once again, closing out the first half with a 10-3 run and entered the intermission down 44-36. Abby Boyd led the Crimson Storm at the half with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. UAM shot well from the floor in the first half, shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from beyond the arc. However, the Crimson Storm did a good job limiting the NCAA Division II leading scorer Jordan Goforth to just nine points on 4-of-9 shooting.
 
Southern Nazarene was able to narrow the gap in the third quarter, as the team shot 45 percent from the field in the quarter. Boyd led the team with five in the period, while Chelseah Savage, Danielle Gaddis, and Adrienne Berry added four points each. Goforth got into a rhythm for the Blossoms, as she scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting during the quarter. UAM struggled during the third quarter outside of Goforth, as the rest of the team combined to shoot just 2-of-9 from the field.
 
The Crimson Storm continued its good defense into the fourth quarter, forcing the Blossoms into shooting just 40 percent from the field. Goforth again carried Monticello, scoring 12 of the team's 22 points in the period, bringing her total to 33 points on the night. Southern Nazarene was able to match UAM in shooting percentages for the quarter, but the Blossoms held a decisive advantage at the charity stripe. Monticello went 12-of-14 from the free throw line during the final period, while SNU went just 5-of-6 during the fourth.
 
Boyd led the Crimson Storm with a season-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Gaddis and Berry each added 14 points of their own, with Gaddis adding six rebounds and Berry adding five. LaShabra Plunkett contributed on both ends of the court, as she scored seven points to go with eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a career-high seven blocks.