BETHANY, Okla. — A bittersweet ending to the regular season was just shy of perfection as Southern Nazarene came up short to No. 19 Southwestern Oklahoma State 55-71.
Remaining atop the conference for the majority of the season, the Bulldogs (26-4, 20-2) were faced with their toughest matchup thus far as the second place Storm (20-9, 15-7 GAC) welcomed them to Bethany to close out the regular season while celebrating the Storm seniors for their last appearance inside the Sawyer Center.
It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the contest as the two the teams sat gridlocked at 11 a piece after the first quarter. The scoring exchanges carried over to the following period, but seven SNU turnovers led to a couple of buckets for SWOSU, allowing the Bulldogs to gain a lead at the half at 34-27.
A couple of three's by the Bulldogs gave them a nine-point advantage midway through the third quarter, but that lead was quickly cut down as the Storm fought back to trail by eight at 45-53 moving it into the final ten.
The offensive rhythm for the Storm had trouble picking up speed as they remained scoreless through the first four minutes of the fourth. The Bulldogs capitalized on their end, going on a 12-0 run halfway through. Abby Niehues' two free throws finally added some points on the board for SNU, putting them behind 17 with just under six minutes to play. SNU battled the rest of the way through to help cut the deficit, but time was just too short, sending SWOSU the 71-55 win to cap off the regular season.
Senior Jaycee Soap left her lasting mark on Bobby Martin Court that game as she finished with 17 points, going 3-4 from deep.
Cassandra Awatt got her spark back this contest after some offensive troubles against Northwestern Oklahoma State as she was just shy of another double-double, securing 11 points, nine boards, five assists, and two steals.
Lillie Smith was another player for the Storm who notched double digit scoring as she racked up 11 on the afternoon, mixing in four boards and two assists.
Niehues stayed strong on the boards all afternoon, grabbing 13 boards, two blocks, two, steals, and four points.
Emily Monaghan finished with six point sand five rebounds while Kennedy Gillette put up four points to go along with a team-high three steals.
This Storm still have more work to do as Harding's loss to Henderson State that afternoon secured SNU's second place spot in the Conference tournament. The Storm will matchup with the No. 7 seed Thursday, March 3rd at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Tip time is set for 2:15 p.m.
