Ada, Okla. -- The East Central University Lady Tigers took control in the first half and held off the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels 71-61 in non-conference action Tuesday night (Dec. 17) at the Kerr Activities Center in Ada, Okla.
The loss snaps the Lady Evangels eight'game winning streak, which was the longest since MACU joined the NAIA in 2007.
The Lady Evangels (8-2) led early on by six before the Lady Tigers used a 20-5 run midway through the first half to take a 27-18 lead and settled for a 35-27 lead at the break.
ECU (6-4) extended the lead to 11 early in the second half and each time the Lady Evangels made a run, the Lady Tigers kept them at bay.
After a three by Lauren McKinney capped a 9-3 spurt that pulled the Lady Evangels within 41-36, Erin Walling nailed consecutive threes to finish off eight straight points for ECU to stretch the lead back to 13 at the 10:42 mark.
The Lady Tigers maintained a double-figure edge and built the lead as high as 14 when treys from Cheyenne Been, McKinney and April Williams fueled a 16-7 push by the Lady Evangels over the next four minutes to again make it a five-point game at 64-59 with 2:38 left.
But that's as close as the Lady Evangels could get as the Lady Tigers scored six straight and limited MACU to only one field goal the rest of the way.
Adaugo Osuala led the Lady Evangels with 18 points, with McKinney and Tierra Brown each chipping in with 10. Williams scored eight and had a team-high seven rebounds.
The Lady Tigers got a game-high 22 points from Walling, while Ashley Robison put together a double-double of 10 points and 18 boards. Dilan Webster also scored 10 points.
MACU held a 14-12 advantage on the offensive glass, but the Lady Tigers out-rebounded the Lady Evangels 39-21 on the defensive boards for a 51-35 edge overall in rebounding.
The Lady Evangels will now take some time off for the Christmas break before playing at NCAA II and former Sooner Athletic Conference rival Rogers State University on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) at 3 p.m. in Claremore, Okla.
MACU will then resume action in the SAC on Jan. 2 at home against Northwood University. Tip-off for that matchup is set for 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
