The title quest is over for the Shorter women's basketball team.

Fourth-seeded Southern Nazarene defeated fifth-seeded Shorter, 79-49, in the quarterfinals of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Division I Women's Basketball Championship on Wednesday.

The Lady Hawks trailed by as much as 38 in the second half.

Aminata Fall recorded a double-double with 17 points and 19 rebounds and Annie Kassongo poured in a game-high 19 points.

The win propels the Crimson Storm (18-12) into tomorrow's semifinal round. Shorter (17-12) ends its national championship quest, but will now play for fifth place in the tournament starting with a noon game tomorrow against the loser of the Union-Roberts Wesleyan game.

Southern Nazarene surged ahead of the Lady Hawks early and never let up, building a 15-point halftime lead behind the inside prowess of forwards Fall and Kassongo.

The Crimson Storm used a 7-1 run early in the first half to take a 13-6 lead with 14:01 to go until halftime. Shorter closed to within 13-10 moments later, but Southern Nazarene outscored the Lady Hawks 10-0 over the next five minutes to go up 23-10 with 7:57 left in the first period.

Southern Nazarene led 37-22 at the break, and after Shorter showed signs of life with a 6-0 run to start the second half, Crimson Storm leading scorer Oumoul Thiam ended the run with a step back 3 from the corner and SNU used a 15-2 spurt capped by a layup and two free throws from Fall to go ahead 52-30 with 12:07 to play.