BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene's defense held Southwestern Oklahoma State to 32.0 percent shooting on their way to an 81-67 win over the Bulldogs Thursday night.
Adrienne Berry led the Crimson Storm (10-9, 7-8 GAC) in scoring with 18 points on 8-of-18 shooting.
Callee Mason scored 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Abby Boyd scored 13 points and added two rebounds and four assists. The Storm had four players grab eight or more rebounds, as
Danielle Gaddis,
Sidney Carolina, and
Irene Perez grabbed eight and
Kandyce Freeman notched nine.
Both teams got off to a slow start as is wasn't until the sixth shot of the game that a team scored. Southwestern Oklahoma State forced six turnovers and led by as many as five in the opening quarter. However, the Storm fought back and took the lead at 17-15 after Mason hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
The Storm started the second quarter by building a 6-point lead. Putting the score at 23-17 after Gaddis hit a jumper. The Bulldogs cut the lead down to three points with the score at 28-25, but the Storm pushed the lead back to six after Mason hit her third 3-pointer of the game. SWOSU cut the lead to five, and then Boyd extended the SNU to 11 points after she drained two 3-pointers in a row to put the score at 39-28 with 1:24 remaining in the quarter. At the end of the first half, Southern Nazarene led the Bulldogs 41-30.Southern Nazarene shot 43.2 percent on 16-of-37 shooting while Southwestern Oklahoma State shot 29.7 percent on 11-of-37 shooting.
SNU opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run capped by a Boyd 3-pointer. The run built 20-point lead for the Storm with the score 50-30 with 7:27 remaining in the third quarter. Southern Nazarene out scored the Bulldogs 24-9 in the third quarter to put the score at 65-39 going into the fourth.
Southwestern Oklahoma State out scored the Storm 28-16 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough as SNU cruised to an 81-67 victory. Southern Nazarene finished the game shooting 39.8 percent on 33-of-83 shooting from the field and a smoldering 45.5 percent from behind the arc. SNU made ten threes, marking just the second time Southern Nazarene this season that SNU has made ten or more threes in a game.
The Storm won the game on the defensive end of the court, as they were able to hold the Bulldog's, who lead the conference in scoring, to 32.0 percent shooting on the night. SNU did an even better job defending the 3-point line as they held SWOSU to 15.6 percent shooting on 5-of-32 from behind the arc. The Storm also out rebounded the Bulldogs 55-48 and forced 14 turnovers.
