OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels continued their terrific start under new head coach Hannah Moeller with a 91-82 victory over the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers tonight (Nov. 22) inside the Gaulke Activity Center. The Rangers are an NCAA D-II program that formerly competed in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
The win moves the Lady Evangels to 7-1 on the season, with their lone setback coming to current No. 3-ranked Our Lady of the Lake University last Friday (Nov. 18) at the OCU Classic.
Brittany Thompson sparked a surge for the Lady Evangels from the late stages of the first quarter through the second period.
With the score 18-18, Thompson got behind the defense twice on inbounds plays to score consecutive buckets and put the Lady Evangels up 22-18 after one quarter.
Thompson then went to work in the second quarter, scoring 11 points to help MACU continue to build a lead.
The Lady Evangels ended the quarter on an 8-2 spurt as Sarai Rodriguez hit a jumper as time expired to give MACU a double-figure lead of 42-31 at the break.
After the Lady Evangels held the Rangers at bay in the third quarter and led 62-53 heading to the fourth, the Rangers made a run by scoring the first four points to come within 62-57 at the 9:30 mark.
The advantage was six points when Rodriguez nailed a three to begin a run of 12 straight points for the Lady Evangels that broke it open.
Mikki Flores sparked the surge with seven points and wound up scoring nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, concluding with two free throws that made it 80-62 with 4:43 remaining.
The Lady Evangels' biggest lead of the night came at 19 points on two occasions, with the last being on a bucket by Erika Brown that pushed the lead to 91-72 with just 1:12 left.
Rodriguez led the Lady Evangels with a game-high 24 points, while Thompson produced a double-double of a career-best 22 points and 10 rebounds. Jamie Lamb scored 11 points and Flores tallied a team-high five assists.
Kalea King paced the Rangers with 23 and points and Kori Barrios scored 10. Renee Contreras had a game-high six assists for NWOSU.
The Lady Evangels managed to control the glass, outrebounding the Rangers 50-37 overall.
MACU will next open up SAC play at home next Thursday evening (Dec. 1) against Texas Wesleyan University. Tip-off will be 6 pm inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
