BETHANY, Okla. — After a cold shooting day down in Durant roughly two months ago, the Southern Nazarene Women's Basketball team amped up the offensive intensity, combined with their aggressive defensive agenda to rough up Southeastern with a 69-54 win Saturday afternoon at home, making it seven straight wins for the Crimson Storm.
Two of the better defensive squads inside the GAC, the Crimson-Savage matchup has always been a back and forth sequence. The Crimson Storm (15-7, 10-5 GAC) proved their title of the best defense in the conference Saturday as the they held the Savage Storm (9-11, 7-7 GAC) to 45 points, shooting well below their 43 percent field goal percentage on the season as they only scraped by with 35 percent that afternoon.
Southern Nazarene stepped on the gas right from opening tip and never hit the breaks as they opened the first ten minutes with a seven-point lead over Southeastern at 13-6. This early dominance would carry over into the second period as SNU began with a 4-0 run, keeping Southeastern from gaining any sort of lead going into the break as the Crimson Storm reached an 11-point advantage moving into halftime.
After the half, sharpshooter Jaycee Soap waved the hot hand as she opened the third with a three from deep, kickstarting her spectacular shooting for the remainder of the contest. Soap would go on to bury three more triples that quarter while Cassandra Awatt was getting buckets to go everywhere on the floor giving SNU the 52-28 lead with one final ten left on the clock. Southern Nazarene outscored Southeastern by 13 that quarter, reaching their largest lead thus far.
The Savage Storm were able to splash three back-to-back threes in the final quarter, trying to cut the Crimson Storm's massive lead, but SNU remained relentless on the defensive end, closing out the contest with a whopping 24-point victory over the Savage Storm, making it their seventh consecutive win and 10th conference dub this season.
Soap led the Crimson Storm offensive, putting up 18 points and burying four shots from downtown.
Awatt dominated her way to her eighth double-double on the year, tallying 17 points and 11 rebounds, capping off her performance with four assists.
Lauryn Reither continued her fire off the bench, grabbing 11 points that afternoon while sinking in two threes that contest.
Just shy of another double-double herself, Abby Niehues got eight points to go against Southeastern while pulling down ten rebounds. Kennedy Gillette was quieter on the offensive end but caused issues for the Savage Storm all afternoon long as she grabbed a game-high 13 boards, coupled with six assists and six steals.
Another road trip to Arkansas awaits for the Crimson Storm as they take their seven-game win streak across state lines as they head to Harding and Arkansas Tech February 10th and 12th for two more GAC matchups.
