Shawnee, Okla. -- In a nip-and-tuck game that featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes, it was the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels that broke the final gridlock to come away with a 71-67 victory at the St. Gregory's University Cavaliers in Sooner Athletic Conference action today (Jan. 16) W.P. Wood Fieldhouse in Shawnee, Okla. 

With the score knotted at 66-66 with 1:27 remaining, the Lady Evangels made it happen with defense and timely free-throw shooting. 

Single free-throws by Lindsey Mann and D'Shala Culberson put MACU ahead for good and following one free-throw from Denisha Lundy that brought SGU within one, Alliyah Spatafora made a free-throw and Kelli Tolar then put it away with two at the charity stripe with four seconds remaining. 

The Lady Evangels trailied by one at the break and were down four when Jamie Lamb sparked a 12-0 run with six points that gave MACU its largest lead of the game of 55-47 at the 7:51 mark of the fourth quarter. 

But as was the theme of this tightly contested matchup, the Cavaliers rattled off a 9-1 spurt to tie the game for the ninth time at 56-56 with 5:41 left. 

The game would then be all squared four more times before Lady Evangels finally pulled away down the stretch. 

Tolar led the Lady Evangels with a game-high 23 points and tied her career-high with six assists. Lamb contributed 14 points and nine rebounds, with Culberson scoring 11 points and also pulling down nine boards.  Mann also scored 11 for MACU. 

Lundy led the Cavaliers with 20 points, followed by Kylee Tatum's 14 points. Aliyah Richard had a team-high seven boards for SGU. 

MACU held a 47-42 edge overall on the glass and outscored the Cavaliers 30-26 in the paint. 

The Lady Evangels will next host Southwestern Assemblies of God University Thursday evening (Jan. 21) at 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.