BETHANY - The Southern Nazarene Women's Basketball team was in the Sawyer Center for a Thursday night showdown with the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm. After starting the season with three straight losses, the Crimson Storm had hopes of shifting the tide and making it three wins in a row. Unfortunately, SNU came up short and fell 75-62 to SEOSU.
The Crimson Storm (2-4, 2-4 GAC) used great defense to force the Savage Storm (4-4, 4-4 GAC) into committing a whopping 18 turnovers in the game. The Southern Nazarene bench also came up huge in this game with 22 points, but it wasn't enough as SNU finished the night shooting 43.9% from the field.
Alexus Jones had one of her best performances this season as she scored 20 points and dished out three assists. Freshman
Payton Jones had a great showing with 14 points on an efficient 5-of-9 shooting from the floor.
Cassandra Awatt was also a good contributor for the Crimson Storm as she scored eight points, brought down four rebounds, and finished with three assists in the contest.
The game didn't start out in the Crimson Storm's favor as they couldn't get a basket to go down, finishing the first quarter shooting just 4-of-15 from the field. Southeastern managed to knock down 4-of-5 from the arc alone in the quarter as they led SNU 20-8 to end the first quarter.
Southern Nazarene improved defensively in the second quarter as the Savage Storm went from a 66% field goal percentage to a 46% percentage. SNU would force four turnovers in the quarter, but trailed SEOSU 36-19 going into halftime.
Early in the third quarter, the Savage Storm took a 43-23 lead over SNU, their largest of the game. Soon after, the Crimson Storm responded with an 8-0 run to trim the deficit down to 12. Alexus Jones also had a terrific third quarter as she scored nine points as SNU trailed 51-40 going into the fourth. Southern Nazarene would 21 points in the quarter and force six turnovers.
Payton Jones drilled a monster three to put Southern Nazarene in striking distance with the scoreboard reading 61-53 and just 4:30 left in the game. However, the Storm were unable to close the gap as the Savage Storm won the game by score of 75-62.
The Crimson Storm will look to get back on track this Saturday as they travel to Weatherford to face off with the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs (7-1, 7-1 GAC). Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00pm.
