PITTSBURG, Kan. — A furious fourth quarter rally came up just short on Saturday, as Southern Nazarene saw their season come to an end, 81-72, at the hands of Fort Hays State
The Crimson Storm trailed by as many as 17 in Saturday's NCAA first round matchup on multiple occasions, the latest being with 3:10 to play in the third quarter. From that point on, the Crimson Storm outscored the Tigers, 25-12, over the next eight minutes of game action, drawing within four points at 70-66 with 4:32 to go on a layup by Braci Nyberg.
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Crimson Storm would get, as Fort Hays went on an 8-2 run over the next three minutes to ice the game.
"I'd say it was coaching adjustments but it's our players finding it," coach Trent May said about the comeback. "I think they're very well trained and built for moments like this. I always love the fight in our girls. It's in them and I always to try to remind them and bring it out of them as best we can."
This season, the Crimson Storm won their third straight Great American Conference regular season title and made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years. The last two seasons have come as at-large selections as the rest of the region continues to take note of SNU's growth as a program.
"Playing is fun, playing and winning is better and playing and winning with great people is best," May said. "That's our motto and we will continue to preach that all day. We're not gonna sacrifice who we are, who our DNA is as a program, for winning. I believe we're recruiting the right people that happen to be also a good players who are going to put us in positions to being successful."
Senior Hannah Giddey led the way for the Crimson Storm with 23 points and 10 rebounds, her 17th double-double of the season. Sophomore Umi Otsuka and Nyberg each scored 20 points as well for SNU.
Telexa Weeter led the way for the Tigers with 22 points off the bench. Katie DeGarmo had 20 points and 16 rebounds to go along with eight assists, while Olivia Hollenbeck and Brooke Loewe had 17 and 13 points, respectively.
SNU scored the first points of the ball game off a Giddey hook shot, but the Tigers quickly captured the lead and never relinquished it. Fort Hays led, 22-15, after the first quarter and jumped up by 14 with 3:50 to go before halftime. However, the Crimson Storm staged their first rally of the game, rolling off an 11-4 run to close the second quarter and slice the deficit in half.
The Tigers led at half, 37-30, in large part due to an 11-2 edge in fastbreak points. For the game, Fort Hays rolled up 18 fastbreak points, which helped keep the Crimson Storm at arms length throughout the afternoon.
SNU trailed by 11 heading into the fourth quarter, but quickly cut the deficit to single digits with 8:16 to play on a 3-pointer by Otsuka. After the teams traded baskets over the next several possessions, the Storm scored four straight points, culminating with Nyberg's fastbreak layup.
But the Tigers wouldn't allow the Storm any closer, allowing a single bucket for SNU over the next four possessions while pushing the lead back to 10 points.
While it was a disappointing finish to the season for the Crimson Storm, there is still much to celebrate and look forward to within the program. The team may be leaving Pittsburg, but the program isn't going anywhere.
"We had an amazing group of girls who were committed together," May said. "Not just cliché words, but they they really embody our chemistry and culture and our environment, one, for our university and two for our program. I couldn't be more proud of a group of people who just decided to do it together every single day."
