Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Trailing by as many as 14 in the first half, the Mid-America Christian Lady Evangels out-scored the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens 11-2 from the end of the first half through the early stages of the second and went on to a 69-58 victory in Sooner Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4) at the Gaulke Activity Center.
The win is the Lady Evangels second straight and pushes their record to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the SAC. The loss drops the Flying Queens to 5-5 overall and 0-4 in conference.
Nicole Wittman hit a three and made a pair of free throws that gave the Lady Evangels their first lead of the game at 32-31 with 17:45 remaining in the game.
After Alex Williams tied the score for the Flying Queens at 39-39, the Lady Evangels broke the gameopen by outscoring WBU 17-1 over the next seven minutes that put MACU up 56-40 with only 5:31 left.
Wittman and Michelle Hardimon combined for 10 points to fuel the game-changing spurt.
The Flying Queens tried to make things interesting as a trey by Williams capped an 11-2 spurt that closed the lead to 58-51 at the 1:33 mark.
But a pair of free throws by Tranecia Smith and another by Wittman extended the lead to double-digits again and the Flying Queens never seriously threatened again.
Things didn't start out well earlyfor the Lady Evangels as Staci Murphree scored eight points to help the Flying Queens jump out to a 14 point lead at 23-9 with 9:14 left in the opening half.
The Lady Evangels slowly chipped away as four straight free throws from Brittany Woodard cut the lead to seven and Woodard then hit a jumper as time expired in the first half that brought MACU to within 29-25 at the break.
Wittman scored a game-high 22 to pace the Lady Evangels. Smith and Woodard each chipped in with 10. Brittany Johnson added a team-high six rebounds.
Murphree and Erika Raymond each scored 13 to lead the Flying Queens, while Williams scored nine along with a game-high seven boards.
After allowing WBU to shoot 42.9 percent (12-of-28) in the opening half, the Lady Evangels clamped down defensively and limited the Flying Queens to only a 20 percent (6-of-30) shooting clip in the second half.
The Lady Evangels had opposite shooting fortunes, as they hit only 21.4 percent (6-of-28) in the first half but shot a blazing 54.5 percent (12-of-22) in the second half.
Next up the Lady Evangels will face a stiff test as they will host No. 3-ranked Oklahoma City on Thursday evening (Dec. 4) at 6 p.m. at the Gaulke Activity Center.
