Alva Review-Courier -

BETHANY, Okla. — In the Great American Conference season opener, Southern Nazarene picked up a 72-59 against Southern Arkansas.

Adrienne Berry got her 2017-18 campaign off on the right foot, as the junior poured in 24 points to lead the way for the Crimson Storm (1-0, 1-0 GAC). She knocked down four of her eight three-point attempts, and pulled in five rebounds for the game. Kandyce Freeman contributed 11 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Storm. Irene Perez knocked down two of her four three-point attempts, as she finished with 10 points. Alexus Jones stuffed the stat sheet as the freshman totaled nine points, five assists, and four steals in her debut as the starting point guard.

Southern Nazarene held the Muleriders (0-3, 0-1 GAC) to just 33 percent shooting for the game, and forced 23 total SAU turnovers. The Storm shot just 35 percent from the field, but 41 percent from three-point range as they totaled 10 in that category. SNU also converted 20 of its 25 free throw attempts, which turned out to be critical in the fourth quarter.

The Storm got off to a quick 12-1 run to open the game, but the Muleriders answered with a 10-2 run to make it a 20-12 lead for SNU after the first quarter.

SNU pushed their lead back to double-digits in the second quarter, but again Southern Arkansas went on a 11-3 run to close the period despite turning the ball over 11 times.

The Crimson Storm struggled to get anything going in the third quarter, as they missed 10 of their first 11 shot attempts. After trailing for much of the period, Jones three gave SNU a 44-41 lead with 2:46 left in the quarter. The Storm closed the period with a 51-45 lead.

Julia Schwake knocked down the first three-pointer of her SNU career with 6:03 left in the game, giving the Storm a 57-51 lead. Perez followed that up with a three of her own to push the SNU lead to 60-51. The Storm then went on a 12-8 run to close the game as they outscored Southern Arkansas 21-14 in the fourth quarter.