BETHANY, Okla. — After starting the season off 2-0 at home, Southern Nazarene suffered its first loss of the season inside the Sawyer Center on Tuesday afternoon as the No. 23 ranked Central Oklahoma Bronchos edged SNU 74-65.
The Bronchos (10-1) shot a season-high 52.6 percent from three-point range on Tuesday, as they converted 10-of-19 attempts. They also shot 48 percent from the floor and knocked down 16-of-22 (72.7%) of their free throws. The Crimson Storm (2-8) fought hard all game long on their home floor as they shot 41.1 percent from the floor and just 29.4 percent from three.
SNU was out-rebounded 36-23 by UCO in the contest but forced 18 Broncho turnovers and converted 25 points out of those. The Storm's bench came alive once again on Tuesday as they contributed 27 points in the game. Sophomore Abby Niehues led the way for Southern Nazarene as she scored a game-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, and three blocks. Fresh off a GAC Player of the Week honor, junior Irene Perez scored 12 points off the Storm bench.
Niehues and Perez were the only Storm players in double-figures as Madeline Schroepfer added nine points off the bench, while Alexus Jones tallied seven points and three assists. If SNU can take one positive away from this loss, it's the way they limited turnovers on Tuesday as the Storm committed 11 turnovers, which is a season-low.
"I'm pleased with the way we limited the turnovers today," said head coach Trent May. "With that being said, I thought the turnovers came today at inopportune times and felt like at times we were one pass away from a great play. The girls deserve this two-week break off from all the hard work they've put in on the floor and the classroom as well. We'll come back from break and try and hone in on the fundamentals and continue to get better as a team."
Central Oklahoma started the game looking a bit like the Golden State Warriors as they were knocking down shots all over the place. They made 4-of-5 three pointers in the opening period en route to 56.3 percent shooting for the quarter. The Crimson Storm however, kept pace and scored 17 to take a 24-17 deficit into the second.
The Bronchos cooled down in the second quarter, but so did SNU as both teams combined to make nine field goals. UCO outscored the Storm by two in the period as they took a 37-28 lead into halftime.
The final two quarters is where things got interesting as SNU shot 45 percent in the final 20 minutes of action. They cut into the UCO lead by outscoring the Bronchos 19-16 in the third, and faced a 43-37 deficit heading into the final frame. Both teams heated back up in the fourth quarter as UCO and SNU each shot over 40 percent.
UCO bumped their lead in the fourth to 61-51 three minutes in, but a 7-0 run from the Storm cut it to 61-58 with 4:52 to play. That's the closest that Southern Nazarene came however, as UCO converted an and-one to make it 70-63 with a little over a minute left. The Bronchos cruised the final minute after that.
Southern Nazarene will now take a two-week break over the Christmas and New Years holidays before returning to action inside the Sawyer Center on January 3rd.
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