BETHANY, Okla. – The matchup of the top two women's teams in the Great American Conference lived up to its billing.
Harding struggled from the field early, fell behind by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter, rallied to within two late, and fell 69-63 to Southern Nazarene on Thursday at the Sawyer Center.
With the victory Southern Nazarene extended its conference lead to two games. The Crimson Storm, who are 9-0 at home this season, are 18-4 overall and 15-1 in the GAC.
Harding fell to 17-6 overall and 13-3 in the GAC. The Lady Bisons won the first meeting between the teams 75-65 in Searcy on Jan. 14.
Jacie Evans led Harding with 23 points, her sixth game with 20 or more points this season. Sage Hawley added 17 points, 12 assists and a team-high five assists. It was her GAC-leading 14th double-double.
Southern Nazarene led 55-45 with 8:03 left in the game. Harding answered with an 11-3 run. Hawley's layup with 3:22 left cut the Southern Nazarene lead to 58-56 with 3:22 left. The Crimson Storm scored on its next possession, and neither team made a field goal in the game's final three minutes.
Southern Nazarene outrebounded Harding 40-36 in the game, the first time in the last 23 games Harding has been outrebounded.
Neither team shot well in the first period. Harding was only 3-of-15 from the field, and Southern Nazarene was 6-of-18. The Crimson Storm led 15-8 after one.
Harding's shooting struggles continued early in the second quarter and trailed 25-15 with 4:12 left in the half. Kendrick Bailey drilled HU's first 3-pointer with 3:57 left to start a 9-2 Harding run. Hawley made two free throws and two buckets during the spurt and cut the Southern Nazarene lead to 27-24 with 2:02 left.
The Crimson Storm pushed the lead back out to seven but a Rory Geer jumper followed by Bailey's driving layup at the buzzer sent Harding to the halftime locker room down only 31-28.
Southern Nazarene shot 62% in the third quarter and hit 4-of-5 3-pointers to lead 51-43 entering the fourth. Harding pulled within one point on a Geer layup with 1:58 left, but the Crimson Storm closed the quarter on a 9-2 run.
Harding returns to action Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Tip-off at the Noble Center is at 1 p.m.
