BETHANY, Okla. — In their last home appearance of the season, Southern Nazarene not only celebrated their seniors for Senior night, but their 60-53 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State upheld their perfect home record, earning themselves a GAC Regular Season Title.
Defeating NWOSU once this season in Alva, The Storm (23-4, 20-1 GAC) did it once more inside the Sawyer Center, battling back from a five-point halftime deficit to edge the Rangers (11-14, 7-14 GAC) by seven for the final. SNU out shot NWOSU with a 43% shooting clip and out-rebounded the Rangers by seven, helping keep their home win-streak untouched.
The Storm unleashed the scoring first and held on to a lead for most of the first quarter. Down by one with 10 seconds remaining, the Rangers fired up last second, long two for the lead and got it to go, taking the 13-12 advantage over the Storm at the end of the first.
The Storm quickly took back the lead in the second, but a couple of Storm turnovers allowed NWOSU to put together a string of solid possessions late in the second quarter, outscoring the Storm 15-11 to take a five point lead at 28-23 at the end of the half.
Trailing through the first five minutes of the third, SNU's Lauryn Reither tied the ballgame at 30 a piece with a three ball in front of the Storm bench. In the final five minutes, SNU outscored the Rangers 11-3, allowing some cushion heading in to the fourth as they led 41-33.
SNU ballooned to an 11-point lead within the first couple of minutes of the final quarter, but the Rangers continued to fight back, able to bring it within seven points at the seven-minute mark. SNU took control from there, succeeding from the field and at the charity stripe to hold a 10-point lead with a minute remaining in the contest.
The two teams battled in the remaining 60 seconds, but SNU held up on the defensive end to keep the Rangers at length, claiming the the 60-53 victory and securing their outright GAC Regular Season title.
Emily Monaghan shined on all fronts, finishing with 18 points and eight boards, also grabbing six assists and two steals.
Georgia Adams earned herself 13 points and three boards while Payton Jones chipped in 12 points and four boards.
Cassandra Awatt was more quiet on the offensive end, but stepped up big in the rebounding category, pulling down a game high 10 boards.
SNU's win over NWOSU earns them the No. 1 seed in the GAC tournament. They will complete the regular season over in Weatherford as they face Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday, February 25th at 1:00 p.m. SNU already defeated the Bulldogs once this season, winning by 10 points in Bethany.
