PLAINVIEW, Texas – The Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team battled to stay in the game with the #5 Wayland Baptist University Flying Queens on Saturday afternoon. Despite their best efforts, however, the Lady Evangels were unable to pull the upset on the road.
MACU (9-6, 3-4 SAC) trailed by only two at the end of the first half, but the Flying Queens (11-3, 5-2 SAC) stifled the Lady Evangels' offense in the second half, drawing away to the win, 85-68.
Wayland Baptist opened the game with a 3-pointer from Kendrick Clark on the opening possession of the game, but MACU's Alexis Shannon scored back-to-back buckets in a 30-second span to put MACU up 4-3 with 8:04 left in the period. The game remained close throughout the period, as neither team led by more than three points in the quarter, and at thanks to a pair of Nevada Denton free throws with five seconds remaining, the Lady Evangels held a 20-19 lead after 10 minutes of play.
WBU opened the second period on a 7-2 run, building a 27-22 lead, but MACU battled hard to stay close in the period. For much of the frame, the margin hovered around four points, but with 4:33 to play, WBU got a layup from Kelea Pool to push the margin to eight at 35-27, but MACU chipped away in the final moments. Six straight points from the Lady Evangels cut the margin to just two at 35-33, and the spurt was capped by a 3-pointer from Janaya Hines at the 2:42 mark of the period. WBU pushed the margin back to seven, but a triple from Chelseah Savage and two free throws from Denton in the final 1:15 of the half helped MACU cut their halftime deficit to 40-38.
WBU opened the second half on a 6-0 run, but MACU fought back to cut the deficit back to 46-42 with 6:37 to play in the quarter. The Flying Queens, however, scored the next seven points in the game, pushing their lead to 11. The run eventually reached 14-4 and spanned four minutes, and after three quarters of play, MACU trailed 63-55.
Savage cut the margin to five with a 3-pointer just 32 seconds into the final period, but WBU bounced back quickly. The Flying Queens immediately put together a 9-0 run, and after Denton connected on a jump shot, that run continued as WBU pushed their lead to 77-60. The Flying Queens led by as many as 21 in the final moments, taking the win 85-68.
Savage led the Evangels with 17 points in the game, a season-high for her, as MACU had three players in double-figures. Denton scored 16 on the afternoon, and Shannon added 13 as well. Denton led the way with eight rebounds in the game, and Savage added six boards.
As a team, MACU made 18-of-55 (32.7%) shots from the floor, and 6-of-16 (37.5%) from long distance. MACU did shoot well from the foul line, however, making 26-of-32 (81.3%) from the charity stripe.
MACU will wrap up their three-game road trip on Monday evening, when they head to nearby Chickasha. MACU will battle the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma Drovers (13-2, 5-1 SAC) at 6 p.m.
