The Southern Nazarene Women's basketball team traveled to Shawnee on Monday night for a showdown with conference rival Oklahoma Baptist. The Bison led for most of the game, 26 minutes exactly, but the Storm managed to make a lead change when it mattered most, leading to their 71-63 win over OBU.
SNU (2-3, 2-3 GAC) capitalized on the Bison's (0-9, 0-8 GAC) mistakes, as they scored 34 points off of turnovers. The Crimson Storm's bench also put together 28 points, giving Southern Nazarene the extra push they needed.
Freshman Payton Jones had a sensational game as she led the Storm with a career-high 15 points, and knocked down 3-of- 5 from behind the arc in the game. Kennedy Gillette scored 14 points, collected three rebounds, and dished out three assists. Senior Alexus Jones stuffed the stat sheet as she registered eight points, six rebounds, five steals, and six assists.
Southern Nazarene didn't start off on the right foot as Oklahoma Baptist opened with a 6-0 run. SNU ended the first quarter of play shooting 4-of-8 as they took the lead over the Bison 16-15. Oklahoma Baptist scored eight straight points to start the second, but the Crimson Storm stayed in it. Southern Nazarene only trailed the Bison 34-40 going into halftime.
It was a very exciting third quarter as there were seven ties and 10 lead changes. At the end of the third quarter, the scoreboard read 56-52 in favor of the Bison. Ultimately, it was the defensive effort of SNU that made the difference as they only allowed seven points in the entire fourth quarter of play. Payton Jones made a three-pointer with 30 seconds left to put the Crimson Storm up 67-63. After a few made free throws, Southern Nazarene would go on to 71-63 over the Bison, extending their streak to six over the Bison.
Southern Nazarene will return to the Sawyer Center to play Southeastern Oklahoma State (4-4, 4-4 GAC) on Thursday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30pm.
