KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Southern Nazarene wrapped up the Central Region Challenge on Saturday afternoon with an 82-70 loss to Augustana (S.D.) inside Municipal Auditorium.
 
The Crimson Storm (0-2) got their leading scorer back, but only for 10 minutes as Adrienne Berry recovered from a concussion as the Vikings (2-0) shot 50.8 percent from the floor and knocked down 11 three-pointers in the win. SNU shot just 33.8 percent from the field and made just 7-of-24 three-point tries. They turned the ball over 21 times in the contest while forcing 19 Viking turnovers on the defensive side.
 
Sophomore Abby Niehues led the way in scoring for Southern Nazarene as the forward scored a career-high 15 points and added nine rebounds. She was the only Storm player to reach double-figures in scoring as Kayci Glover tallied a team-high nine points off the SNU bench. Irene Perez recorded eight points and three rebounds, while Berry came off the bench to score seven points for SNU.
 
Augustana jumped out to an early 13-2 run in the opening quarter and later pushed that to 21-12 by the end of the period. The Vikings went on a 21-0 run to start the second quarter as the Storm didn't get their first basket until the 5:54 mark in the period. AU took a 52-27 lead into halftime and never looked back from there.
 
SNU made a bit of a push in the fourth quarter, as they cut the lead down to 12 but that was the closest the Crimson Storm came as Augustana closed them out.
 
Southern Nazarene's road trip continues into next weekend as they compete in the Lady Chaps Invitational in Lubbock, Texas hosted by Lubbock Christian. The Crimson Storm take on the No. 3 ranked Lady Chaps on Friday night at 6 p.m.