BETHANY ‑ Southern Nazarene Women's basketball took Bobby Martin Court on Thursday evening to battle the red-hot East Central Tigers. SNU played lights out defensively and sent the Tigers home in defeat with a score of 61-56, snapping their 8-game winning streak.
The Crimson Storm (3-5, 3-5 GAC) tallied eight blocks and seven steals in the game, and also controlled the boards as they collected a whopping 45 rebounds. The bench also came up huge for SNU against the Tigers (8-2, 8-2 GAC) as they combined for 29 points.
Abby Niehues had arguably her best game of her illustrious career with seven points, 11 rebounds, seven blocks, and two steals.
Cassandra Awatt also starred for the Crimson Storm with 10 points, three rebounds, and two steals.
Payton Jones had another stellar performance as she led the Crimson Storm with 17 points.
In the first quarter SNU played lock down defense.
Abby Niehues led the way for the Crimson Storm with an astounding 4 of her 7 blocks in this quarter alone. On her third block, Niehues became the all-time leader in blocks in GAC history, passing SNU alum Aminata Fall in the process .The Crimson Storm led the Tigers 16-11 at the end of the first quarter.
SNU continued their great defensive effort in the second quarter as they held the Tigers scoreless for the first 4 minutes of the quarter. The Crimson Storm also went on a 9-2 run six minutes into the quarter, giving them a 25-12 lead, which was their biggest of the game so far. At halftime SNU controlled the lead 30-25.
In the third quarter, SNU played sloppy as they committed seven turnovers but continued to make things happen to stay in the game. The Tigers capitalized on the SNU's giveaways, as they took their first lead in the period since the opening minute of the game. Although the Crimson Storm struggled in the third, they managed to be only trail by one point at 46-45 going into the fourth quarter.
With 4:49 left in the fourth quarter,
Emily Monaghan knocked down a pretty jumpshot, which gave the Crimson Storm the lead once again. Both teams continued to trade the lead for the entire quarter. SNU didn't let the Tigers score a single point in the final minute of play and the Crimson Storm finished off their huge victory over the Tigers.
Southern Nazarene will travel to Alva on Saturday afternoon to take on the Northwestern Rangers. Tip-off is scheduled for 2pm.
