KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Southern Nazarene opened their 2018-19 regular season schedule at the Central Region Challenge on Friday afternoon with a 55-47 loss to tournament host and the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division II Central Missouri.
 
Head coach Trent May stated in the preseason, "if you want to be the best, you have to play the best," and that's exactly what the Crimson Storm (0-1) did on Friday. The Jennies (1-0) entered the season ranked first in the NABC Coaches Poll, coming off a 30-3 season where they went on to win the Division II National Championship last year.
 
SNU also opened their season without their star player as senior Adrienne Berry sat out with a concussion. The Storm defense held CMU to 55 points in the contest and 35.4 percent shooting from the floor. Southern Nazarene shot 36.2 percent from the field themselves and knocked down 5-of-14 three-point attempts in the contest. SNU struggled from the free-throw line as they shot just 57.1 percent by converting 8-of-14, while the Jennies converted 16-of-21 from the charity stripe.
 
Freshman Kayci Glover led the way in scoring for the Crimson Storm, as the guard knocked down 3-of-6 from downtown and finishing with 12 points off the SNU bench. 22 of SNU's 47 points came from the bench as Zoe Shieldnight added nine points and four rebounds off the Storm bench.
 
Sonia Sarda scored nine points, hauled in four rebounds, and dished out three assists while sophomore Kennedy Gillette tallied seven points, three rebounds, and two steals. Abby Niehues added five points, four rebounds, and two blocks for SNU as well.
 
Southern Nazarene shot just 28.5 percent from the field in the first two quarters, as Central Missouri jumped out to an 11-4 lead after the first quarter. The Storm went on to force four turnovers in the second quarter as they outscored CMU 13-12 and faced a 23-17 deficit at halftime.
 
The Crimson Storm shot 42.3 percent from the floor in the final two quarters and 50 percent from the three-point line. The Jennies took a 37-30 lead into the final quarter as SNU tried to make things interesting on the top team in the nation.
 
A 6-0 run by Southern Nazarene to start the fourth had CMU on their heels, as Sarda's steal and layup cut the Jennies lead to 37-36 with seven minutes to play. SNU took their first lead of the game with Gillette's jumper to make it 38-37 before Central Missouri went on a 13-4 run to re-take the lead at 50-42 with 90 seconds to play. The lead was too much for the Storm to overcome as CMU cruised from there.
 
Southern Nazarene will play one more game in the Central Region Challenge tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 against Augustana in Kansas City.