OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University Women's Basketball Evangels overwhelmed the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lady Lions 90-58 in Sooner Athletic Conference action today (Feb. 18) inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
The victory keeps the Evangels in a tie for fourth-place in the SAC with Texas Wesleyan University, who defeated No. 13-ranked Wayland Baptist University earlier today. The top four seeds will host a SAC tournament quarterfinal matchup.
Sarai Rodriguez came out strong, scoring 11 first quarter points and hitting all three of her attempts from the perimeter to help MACU take an 11-point lead before Kayla Blise hit a three to close SAGU within 27-19 after one period.
After the Lady Lions trimmed the lead to five with an 8-2 run, Mikki Flores got to the basket and scored six points to spark a 12-1 push for a commanding 44-28 edge with 3:29 left in the half.
Janaya Hines then hit a trey for a 47-30 lead and MACU wound up with a 48-34 advantage heading to the break.
MACU continued to pull away in the second half as Jessica Fairley scored 11 straight points for the Evangels over a three minute span that resulted in a 64-42 lead at the 4:03 mark of the third quarter.
The Evangels never looked back and ended the game outscoring SAGU 14-3 over the final 4:27 for the final 32-point margin victory, their biggest lead of the game.
Fairley led the Evangels (18-9, 9-7 SAC) with a career-high 17 points and also pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, while Flores finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 16 points, nine assists and a career-high tying 10 rebounds.
Rodriguez had 15 points and Nevada Denton chipped in with 10.
D'Shala Powell also had six boards, giving her 505 career rebounds. The senior forward was honored at halftime of the men's game for her career milestone.
Charity Page had team-highs of 22 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Lions and Taylor Sims led SAGU with five assists.
The Evangels dominated inside and outside, holding a 53-42 edge in rebounding while limiting SAGU to only 17.6 percent (3-of-17) shooting from the perimeter, including 0-of-10 in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Evangels connected on 42.9 percent (12-of-28) of their three-point attempts.
The Lady Evangels will now hit the road for the final time in the 2016-17 regular season when they play at St. Gregory's University next Thursday evening (Feb. 23) at 6 pm in Shawnee, Okla.
