OKLAHOMA CITY – The Southwestern Christian University Lady Eagles got a tip-in from Eliora Johnson as time expired to defeat the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels 53-52 in dramatic fashion on Senior Day today (Feb. 20) inside the Gaulke Activity Center.

The Lady Evangels had just forced a miss and SCU retained possession with just .22 seconds remaining.

SCU then called timeout to set up a play that resulted in Andi McGill finding Johnson on a lob to the basket just ahead of the buzzer for the win.

The game-winning layup by Johnson capped a 13-2 spurt over the final 3:52 of the fourth quarter.

This is after the Lady Evangels used a 13-0 push to turn a four-point deficit into a nine-point lead at the 5:05 mark of the fourth period.   

The Lady Evangels fell behind early by 7-0 and then 13-5, but fought back as threes from Lindsey Mann and Sarai Rodriguez sparked a 13-2 spurt that bridged the final 3:48 of the first quarter into the opening 37 seconds of the second quarter and gave MACU its first lead of the game at 18-15.

The contest was tight for the remainder of the half and after a trey from Alliyah Spatafora gave the Lady Evangels a one-point lead, Grace Hadley hit a jumper as the second quarter expired to give the Lady Eagles a 27-26 edge at the break.  

Seniors Mann and Kelli Tolar each scored 15 to lead the Lady Evangels (10-14, 7-9 SAC), with Mann also pulling down a career-high tying eight rebounds and tying a career-best with five treys. D'Shala Culberson also recorded eight boards.

Johnson paced the Lady Eagles (13-13, 10-6 SAC) with a double-double of 21 points and 13 boards. Adrianna White also scored in double-figures with 11 points for SCU.

Along with Mann and Tolar, other MACU seniors playing in their final home game today were Shakayla Love and Laramie Ball.

The Lady Evangels will now be on the road for the final two games of the regular season, starting Thursday evening (Feb. 25) at Bacone College.  Tip-off will be at 6 p.m. in Muskogee, Okla.  MACU bested Bacone 86-77 in the first matchup of the season (Jan. 28).