The Thunderbirds followed up a big win over previous undefeated Oral Roberts University on Saturday with their 13^th win of the season, the most by a Thunderbird team since the 2003-04 team won 18. SUU (13-12, 7-7 Summit League) outrebounded Centenary (0-22. 0-15 Summit League) 56-44 and scored 18 points off of 17 Ladies turnovers. Southern Utah never trailed as they recorded a season-low 11 turnovers and dished out 16 assists while matching a season-high 56 rebounds. With the win, the Thunderbirds lock up one of the eight spots in the Summit League Tournament.

Senior guard Caitlyn Sears scored a game-high 14 points while freshman forward Carli Moreland posted career-highs of 11 points and 11 rebounds to record her first career double-double. Freshman Desiree Jackson finished 11 points while senior forward Challis Pascucci grabbed nine rebounds while being held to seven points.

"It was tough to come out after such an emotional win the other night against Oral Roberts but I was really happy with how we battled against a scrappy Centenary team and earn a spot into the tournament," stated head coach JR Payne. "I would like to see us play with a little more consistency but will take the win. Carli did a great job of bringing energy off the bench and working hard on the boards for us. She continues to take steps forward in her production and that will be huge for us down the stretch."

The Thunderbirds were off and running in the opening minutes, quickly building a 10-1 lead just two minutes in as Pascucci and sophomore forward Tayler Anderson each notched four points. SUU would continue to build on their lead, using an 11-2 run that saw four different Thunderbirds record baskets, highlighted by freshman guard Andrea Jones' three to open up a 21-8 lead.

Southern Utah would keep their lead around 10 before Jackson caught fire and freshman forward Carli Moreland came off the bench to spark a 12-3 run. Moreland had five points and grabbed a couple rebounds during that stretch as Jackson hit three consecutive jumpers to give SUU a 37-22 lead at the 2:10 mark.

Moreland continued to play with great energy in the low post in the final minutes, scoring SUU's final four points of the half to send the Thunderbirds into the break up 41-26.

Moreland lead all players with nine points and eight rebounds at the half while Jackson had eight points. SUU shot 40 percent, held the Ladies to 29 percent shooting and scored 10 points off of eight Centenary turnovers through the first 20 minutes.

The Ladies came out in the second half and followed a Sears layup with six straight points and later used a 10-4 run to make it a nine-point game at the 14:15 mark.

The Thunderbirds later built their lead back up into double-digits with a 10-2 run with Sears scoring the first four points, Moreland grabbing a rebound and laying it back up for two, freshman guard DJ Norman adding a bucket before Jackson's jumper capped the run and gave SUU a 64-47 lead with 5:32 remaining.

Centenary continued to fight back, attacking the basket and knocking down a wide open three to spurn an 8-0 stretch and again cut the SUU lead to nine at the 2:40 mark.

The Thunderbirds went to their bench in the final minutes to hold off the Ladies comeback attempt as freshman guard Angel Dorn knocked down a jumper from the top of the key to give SUU an 11-point lead. A pair of youngsters in sophomore Jadie Parsons and freshman DJ Norman each knocked down free throws in the final seconds to seal the 10-point win.

"It's always a goal to reach the post season tournament but this year we are working on getting a higher seed and becoming a factor in the tournament," Payne said of the Thunderbirds heading to the tournament for the second straight year under Payne. "We will use these two home wins to give us some momentum heading into a big weekend for us."

The Thunderbirds will hit the road next weekend, traveling to Macomb, Ill. to face Western Illinois University on Saturday before heading to Indianapolis, Ind. to matchup against IUPUI next Monday.