MONTICELLO, Ark. - Southern Nazarene continued their streak on the road as they went head to head with the Blossoms of Arkansas-Monticello. The Crimson Storm picked up their second win of the road trip after taking down UAM 71-51.

A second-half burst of offense from the Storm (16-0, 10-0 GAC) gave them the leg up over the Blossoms (5-11, 1-9 GAC). The Blossoms handled the Storm for the first half before the Lauryn Reither and Hannah Giddey duo took over after the break.

Both squads struggled to get on the board early before Reither laid one in after the first two minutes of the contest had passed. The SNU defense went to work not allowing a Monticello point until the 4:59 mark. 

Giddey and Reither found themselves at the foul line stretching the Crimson Storm lead 9-5. UAM trailed, but not far behind as they began to chip away at the Storm lead. A Blossoms layup tied the score 13 all with a minute left to play in the quarter. Monticello got the last possession, hitting a three to lead 16-13 at the end of quarter one.

Hannah Duncan took matters into her own hands draining a long ball to knot the score at 16-16 to begin quarter two. Duncan's three sparked an 8-0 run for SNU to lead the Blossoms 21-16. 
The teams began to trade points from there as Monticello cut the Southern Nazarene lead 26-22 with the help of some free throws.

Carley Gasaway and Jena Bay hit back-to-back threes to give SNU a 32-24 lead before the Blossoms called a timeout with 1:28 left to play. UAM got one more shot in before the halftime break as they trailed the Storm 32-26.

The Storm offense went right back to work as they lengthened their lead to begin the third quarter. Reither headed to the charity stripe, where she hit two shots to give SNU a 34-28 lead. Giddey and the Storm continued to work in the paint stretching their lead even more to 40-31. Monaghan went on to hit one free throw to give Southern Nazarene their largest lead of the game, 41-31.

Monticello traded turns at the foul line with the Crimson Storm before Giddey fed Bay an open three. UAM then went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 45-41. Giddey powered in a hook shot and two free throws to stretch the SNU lead once more, 49-41. A layup and free throw from Reither put the Storm up 11 before a free throw made from Monticello left the score at 52-42 at the end of the third quarter.

Southern Nazarene continued to tack on points, opening the final quarter with a 5-0 run. The Blossoms halted the Storm offense with two made free throws and a three-pointer. Monaghan headed to the foul line, knocking down two shots to extend the SNU lead to 59-47. That sparked a 6-0 run for the Crimson Storm before the Blossoms knocked down a three. Giddey found Duncan for a three to hold an 18-point lead over UAM. 

The Blossoms would hit one free throw before Georgia Adams sank a three in the corner. That would be all it took for the Storm to hold off the Blossoms and earn yet another victory on their perfect season, 71-51.

The Crimson Storm was led by Hannah Giddey who collected her sixth double-double this season. She posted an outstanding 21 points and 16 rebounds. Reither followed suit with 20 points and seven rebounds. Jena Bay also hit the double-digit scoring mark with 12 points of her own.

Up Next

The Storm will travel just down the road to battle with the Bison of Oklahoma Baptist. The two will square off on Thursday, January 25 at 5:30 p.m. in Shawnee.