FAIRBANKS, Alaska — One way to overcome two consecutive losses is to bounce back with a commanding 25 point victory. And the Southern Nazarene University Women's Basketball team did just that as they blew past Alaska Fairbanks to bounce back after an 0-2 start to the Alaska Tournament.
After two uncharacteristic defeats in the first stretch of games in Alaska, The Storm (5-2, 0-0 GAC) turned up the heat in Game 3 as they set the pace with a 21-0 first quarter run along with a whopping 49 boards to keep the Nanooks (1-4, 0-0 GNAC) from gaining an edge. Three Storm members reached double figure scoring that evening while Cassandra Awatt was the frontrunner on all ends securing a double-double to propel SNU to victory.
Right from tip, the Storm had everything going there way as they scored 21 unanswered points to kickstart the rest of the contest. Between Awatt, Kennedy Gilette, and Jaycee Soap, there was no stopping the Storm has they were putting up shots from all areas of the hardwood. The Nanooks finally put themselves on the board five minutes into the first, but SNU came away with a strong first quarter leading the ball game 27-11.
Alaska Fairbanks fought back in the second going on an 11-0 run midway to cut the Crimson Storm's lead down to just seven. But, Coach May's starters continued to push on every posession bringing the score to an 11 point gap at 44-33 in favor of SNU.
After the reset at halftime, it was all gas, no breaks for the Storm. Rebound after rebound and steal after steal led into multiple made buckets for SNU which increased their lead back up to 21 to end the third quarter at 62-41. 10 of the Storm's 18 points this quarter were courtesy of the bench as Lauryn Reither, Georgia Adams, Lillie Smith, and Emily Monaghan all contributed to the third period attack.
Already leading by 22 to start the final 10 minutes, the Storm did not let up. Gillette had the hot hand picking up seven points that quarter to help keep the Nanooks from staying in the game. It was a push until the final seconds and the Storm earned a monstrous 87-62 victory over the host school to counteract their first two defeats in Fairbanks.
Awatt stole show as she racked up her first double-double of the season tallying 18 points and 11 rebounds along with two assist and five steals. Gillette combated her struggles early in the tournament and put up 17 points, six rebounds, six assists, and a season-high of six steals.
Soap was another leader on the Storm attack dropping 11 points and securing six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. All-Tournament Team award winner Abby Niehues tallied eight points on the evening with four rebounds.
Belle Frazier had another strong game securing six points with five rebounds while Georgia Adams came in to match the energy grabbing seven points of her own along with two rebounds.
The Storm head back to Bethany and will begin the first round of conference play as they tip off with East Central Thursday, December 2nd at 5:30 p.m inside the Sawyer Center. SNU will be going into this matchup 5-2 and will face a tough 4-1 Tigers squad to kick off GAC contests.
