SEARCY, Ark. - A top-10 battle made its way to Searcy as the No. 5 Crimson Storm went head-to-head with the No. 10 Bisons. Harding used their home court to their advantage to hand Southern Nazarene their first loss of the season, 77-57.

The Storm (21-1, 15-1 GAC) met the Bisons (20-2, 15-1 GAC) earlier this season in Bethany. SNU came out victorious defeating Harding 60-51. This handed the Bisons their first conference loss of the season. Harding was ready for revenge inside their home arena as the two squads faced off for the first GAC top-10 matchup in conference history.

Harding got things going with a 12-0 run to put the Storm in an early hole. A jumper from Lauryn Reither put the Storm on the board for the first time halting the Harding run. A few made free throws and a long ball from Emily Monaghan cut the Harding lead to 14-7. 

The Storm continued to chip away, but the Bisons seemed to have a response to every SNU point. A Reither three put the Crimson Storm within six with 1:18 left to play in the first quarter. Harding tacked on a few more to hold their lead 22-12 at the end of quarter one. 

Hannah Giddey opened up the second quarter with a quick jumper. Harding continued to pour in the buckets before Abbie Jiles sank a three to cut the Bisons lead 30-18. Back-to-back SNU layups put the Storm within 10 with 2:37 left to play in the half. The two squads continued to trade points as the Storm attempted to make a comeback, but Harding kept their lead at 38-24 going into halftime.

Giddey got the Storm going once more to begin the third quarter. SNU continued to tack on the points including a three-ball from Monaghan to cut the deficit to 31-42. The Bisons then went on an 8-0 to lengthen their lead. Monaghan responded with a three-ball to stop the Harding run. Both squads added on a few more points to leave the Bisons with the lead 56-38 at the end of quarter three.

The Bisons kept pouring in point after point making a Storm comeback seem impossible. A Reither three-ball led to an SNU timeout with 6:22 left to play in the contest. Both squads continued to add on the points but unfortunately Southern Nazarene was unable to make the incredible comeback falling to the Bisons 77-57. 

The Crimson Storm were led offensively by Reither who contributed 20 points. Monaghan also collected 14 points. Giddey was the other member in double-digit scoring with 10 points.

Next Up

The Crimson Storm will return home to take on the Bison of Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday, February 15th. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. in the Sawyer Center. The Storm took down OBU earlier this season and look to go for the season sweep on Thursday.