BETHANY, Okla. — A tight first half contest was quickly squashed by the Southern Nazarene Women's Basketball team as their third quarter burst propelled them to defeat a tough East Central squad in the Sawyer Center Thursday evening.
The Storm (6-3, 1-0 GAC) - Tigers (3-2, 0-1 GAC) matchup has always been a toss up as both teams have earned multiple wins throughout the series. Earning the last two back in the Spring, SNU does it again in their opening GAC contest as they start their conference tenure off snagging the 68-56 victory over the scrappy Tigers.
East Central did not give the Storm as easy of a start as SNU only led by two the first 10 minutes of play (18-16). Five early steals and two quick Alexus Jones three's put SNU up front to start, but the Tigers never settled and stayed within single digits going into the second period.
Five minutes into the second, the Tigers went 4-4 from the field knocking down three from deep to shock the Storm with a 28-22 start. Kennedy Gillette answered this run with a three of her own followed by a couple of buckets from Emily Monaghan's three-point plays and some put-ins by Jaycee Soap to help bring the SNU lead back up to 36-32 going into the half.
Gillette kicked off the third with another dagger from behind the arc, and the Storm would start their climb to victory from there. ECU continued to creep behind the Storm getting within five points with two minutes remaining that quarter. Coach May's secret bench weapon, Monaghan, caused a frenzy in the final minutes of the third scoring a quick eight points to bump SNU's lead back up 13 (59-46) with one quarter to go.
The Storm posted a monstrous third quarter showing scoring 23 points to ECU's 14.
Still fighting to stay alive, ECU cut the gap early in the fourth to just 10 with the score reading 60-50 after a few quick lay-ins in the paint. Walling up on the defensive end and hitting some crucial shots midway through the fourth, the Storm were starting to see some light.
Scoring just nine points in the final quarter, SNU did their work early and earned their first conference win (68-56) to kickstart the beginning of a hefty set of GAC contests.
Continuing her fiery off-the-bench performance, Emily Monaghan tallied a career-high 21 points for the Storm to go along with five rebounds. Monaghan controlled the reigns as she was responsible for all of SNU's total bench points that evening.
Cassandra Awatt did her job on both ends of the floor per usual grabbing another double-double on the season scoring 15 points and almost tieing her career-high 12 rebounds with 11 on the night.
Gillette was just shy of a double-double herself racking up 13 points and pulling down 8 rebounds. Earning the No. 5 spot in total steals in Division II nationally, Gillette also grabbed three steals against the Tigers.
Alexus Jones set the tone the first half picking up eight points and five rebounds while Abby Niehues tallied six points, three rebounds, and three assists.
Another menace on the defensive end, Jaycee Soap grabbed five steals to go along with five points and four assists.
For the first time since their GAC Tournament Championship victory on Southeastern Oklahoma State's home court, the Storm will head to Durant looking for another conference victory to push them up to 2-0 in GAC play. The reigning champs tip-off at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
