BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene opened the new year of 2019 on Thursday night in dazzling fashion, as they took down Ouachita Baptist 74-55 inside the Sawyer Center.
The Crimson Storm (3-8, 2-3 GAC) had new goals in place to ring in the New Year and boy did they achieve those on Thursday night. The Storm held the Tigers (4-7, 2-3 GAC) to 28.6 percent shooting from the field and forced 15 turnovers in the contest. SNU shot 41.8 percent from the field and converted 11-of-14 free throws in the game as well. They won the rebounding battle 43-31 and never trailed in the contest.
Senior
Adrienne Berry led the way for Southern Nazarene as she scored a game-high 20 points and knocked down four triples.
Irene Perez tallied 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added seven rebounds while
Abby Niehues stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, nine rebounds, and a season-high seven blocks.
Jaycee Soap came off the Storm bench to score nine points while
Kayci Glover added seven off the bench as well.
SNU came out red hot in the opening quarter, scoring a season-high 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting (68.4%) to lead 33-12. That first quarter would prove to be very crucial as the Storm cooled off in the second and third quarters.
Ouachita Baptist held SNU to 28 percent in the second and cut the SNU lead to 47-30 at halftime. The Tigers knocked down three triples in the second quarter as the Storm went 2-for-9 from behind the arc.
Things appeared to be falling apart for the Crimson Storm in the third quarter as they shot just 26.7 percent in the period while committing eight fouls. The Tigers outscored SNU 18-11 and the Storm took a 58-48 lead into the final frame.
Trent May's crew turned up the defense in the final quarter however, as they held Ouachita to 3-of-14 shooting and just seven points. The offense got going again for SNU as they shot 41.7 percent and bumped their lead back up to 20. It was smooth sailing from there as SNU moved to 3-1 this season inside the Sawyer Center with the win.
Southern Nazarene is back in action inside the Sawyer Center on Saturday afternoon with a battle against Henderson State at 1 p.m.
