SHAWNEE, Okla.—The Southern Nazarene Women's Basketball team prepares to make a run in the Great American Conference Championship tournament as the Crimson Storm enter as the No. 1 overall seed after winning the GAC Regular Season Championship.
The winner of the Great American Conference tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region tournament. Three automatic bids are given, followed by five at-large bids. The Crimson Storm currently sit at No. 9 in the regional rankings.
Last season, Southern Nazarene entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, but were shocked in the opening round by Arkansas Tech. The Golden Suns held the lead for the majority of that game, but SNU stormed back to tie the game with five seconds left on a Cassandra Awatt pull-up jumper. That was not enough to force overtime, though, as Arkansas Tech broke free along the baseline and hit the game-winning layup as time expired.
The Crimson Storm will hope to avoid that fate and bring back the magic from 2021, when SNU claimed their first ever GAC tournament championship with wins over Oklahoma Baptist, Southwestern Oklahoma State, and Southeastern Oklahoma State. In the championship win over Southeastern, SNU trailed by 7 with just over two minutes to play, but fought back to tie the game after Payton Jones drilled a long-range triple. A quick turnover, followed by Cassandra Awatt getting fouled on a three-point shot where she made 2-of-3 free throw attempts, saw the Storm steal the 58-56 GAC Championship clinching win.
This season's tournament run begins with a meeting against the No. 8 seeded Muleriders of Southern Arkansas. The teams have never met in the Great American Conference postseason tournament, but SNU has won five straight over the Muleriders historically. This season, the Crimson Storm defeated Southern Arkansas 92-71 in Magnolia, but barely escaped the contest in Bethany. SNU was forced to come back from nine down in the fourth quarter, but finally sealed the win with an Emily Monaghan free throw with 22 seconds left.
Coming into the tournament, Southern Nazarene has won 14 consecutive games. Their last loss came on January 14th at Harding. SNU holds the number two scoring defense in the GAC, allowing just 57.6 points per game. They are led defensively by Great American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Hannah Giddey. Giddey has been a force in the paint all season. She leads the nation with 82 blocks, good for 2.9 blocks per game.
Georgia Adams leads the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game. She also hauled in 5 rebounds per game. This was good enough to earn an All-GAC Second-Team nod.
Cassandra Awatt picked up her second consecutive All-GAC First Team selection after nearly averaging a double-double during the regular season. She put up 13.5 points per game and hauled in 8.9 rebounds per game, good for 3rd in the GAC. She was also a big part of SNU's defensive success as she came away with 2.3 steals per game, good for 2nd in the GAC.
Head Coach Trent May was named the GAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.
With a win in round one, Southern Nazarene would have Friday off and return to action for the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. They would take on the winner of No. 4 seed Arkansas Tech and No. 5 seed Oklahoma Baptist. The championship game is set for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. All action will take place at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Visit the GAC Basketball Championship Central Page for more information regarding the 2023 GAC Men's and Women's Basketball championships.
