Alva Review-Courier -

BETHANY, Okla. — After starting off the season with seven of its first eight games on the road, Southern Nazarene's women's team returned to their home floor on Friday night and took down cross-town rival Oklahoma Christian 89-77 in an impressive fashion.

There's no place like the Sawyer Center as SNU handled their business in the home opener on December 1st against East Central, and now improve their record to 2-0 in Bethany. The Crimson Storm (2-7) were eager to get back to Sawyer and it showed Friday night as they shot 44.4 percent from the field and just under 35 percent from downtown.

SNU held the Eagles (5-6) to a 40 percent clip shooting, including 27 percent in the fourth quarter while also forcing 14 OC turnovers. The Storm out-rebounded Oklahoma Christian 46-34 in the contest while SNU tallied 18 assists as well. Southern Nazarene got a season-high 49 points off the bench and that paid dividends down the stretch of the game.

It was a career night for junior Irene Perez off the Storm bench as she scored a career-high 26 points and shot a career-best 75 percent from the field, knocking down 9-of-12 attempts. Perez also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and buried a pair of three-pointers in the game as well.

Senior Adrienne Berry found her rhythm on her home floor as she scored a season-high 25 points on 11-of-22 (50%) shooting. She went 3-for-8 (38%) from behind the three-point line, and also tallied five rebounds and one block.

Perez and Berry were the only two Southern Nazarene players scoring in double-figures, but got some other huge contributions for others.

Alexus Jones had an all-around great game as she finished with five points and five assists and played some solid defense against OC's leading scorer Addy Clift. Sonia Sarda and Madeline Schroepfer each had big nights off the bench as Sarda scored seven points while Schropefer tallied two points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Kayci Glover also finished with six points, seven rebounds, and two assists for SNU.

Southern Nazarene got off a rough start on Friday night as they shot just 21.1 percent in the period and faced a 17-11 deficit going into the second. But the Crimson Storm responded in a big way in the second period, scoring 27 points and shooting 50 percent from the field. The 27 points were a season-high for any quarter for SNU. OC put up 20 in the period however, as the Storm took a 38-37 lead heading into halftime.

The second half was no different for SNU as they shot a scorching 55 percent from the field in the final two periods. They tallied 27 points in the third and 24 in the fourth as they extended their lead to double-digits and never looked back.

The Crimson Storm pushed their lead to 73-58 on a Perez free-throw with 6:49 to play, and later extended that to 79-61 with 4 minutes to play by a Abby Niehues free-throw. OC cut the lead back down to 13 in the final few minutes but it was a little too late as SNU cruised to their second win of the season.

Southern Nazarene's 2-0 record at home will be put to the test next Tuesday afternoon, as they take on No. 23 Central Oklahoma inside Sawyer at 1 p.m.