OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lady Lions grabbed control in the first half and then held off the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels down the stretch in a 67-61 win in the Sooner Athletic Conference opener for both teams tonight (Dec. 4) inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
The Lady Lions scored the final eight points of the opening half to take the lead by three and then stretched that edge to 47-34 at the 12:54 mark of the second half.
The deficit was still 13 with 7:35 left when the Lady Evangels made a push of 12-3 that was capped by a three from Felicia Foster to bring MACU within 59-56 with 4:19 left.
But the Lady Lions had an answer from that point as two buckets from Laken Ward built the lead back to 63-57 at the 2:16 mark.
The Lady Evangels twice more got within four, but a bucket from Taylor Hill and two free throws by Meghan Becker with nine seconds left put it away for SAGU.
Down 8-4 early, Kelley helped the Lady Evangels put the clamps down defensively with four blocks within the game's first 10 minutes.
The Lady Evangels scored seven straight to jump on top and Foster provided the offensive punch of a 8-3 spurt with six points that made it a 22-15 edge.
It was a 24-19 lead when Charity Page scored six points as the Lady Lions closed out the half with eight straight points over the final 2:26 to lead 27-24 at the break.
Foster led the Lady Evangels (5-2, 0-1 SAC) with 18 points and Tierra Brown scored 14. Kelley had a game-high 11 rebounds and tied her season-high with six blocks.
Becker had a game-high 20 points to pace the Lady Lions (5-3, 1-0 SAC), while Page added 14 and a team-high nine boards. Ward chipped in with 12 points and had eight rebounds.
SAGU also out-rebounded the Lady Evangels overall 49-39 and warmed up to a 52 percent (13-of-25) shooting clip in the second half after shooting only 28.1 percent (9-of-32) in the opening stanza.
Next up the Lady Evangels will be at St. Gregory's University Saturday afternoon (Dec. 6) at 3 p.m. in Shawnee, Okla.
