OKLAHOMA CITY – As the second half of the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) schedule got underway on Thursday night, the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team had an opportunity to take a season sweep from the Texas Wesleyan University Rams. MACU played a solid all-around game on their home floor, and when the buzzer sounded, MACU had the sweep they wanted.
MACU (13-6, 7-4 SAC) had three players score in double figures, and three more who finished just shy of that threshold, and as a result, the Lady Evangels claimed a 79-68 win over the Rams (7-12, 5-6 SAC). The win kept Mid-America within three games of the SAC lead with nine games to play.
MACU opened the game on a 9-2 run, but Texas Wesleyan quickly rallied to close the gap to one at 10-9 with 3:39 to play in the first quarter. The Lady Evangels edged their margin out over the closing moments of the quarter, and Nevada Denton capped off the first frame with a 3-pointer to give MACU a 19-14 lead after 10 minutes.
Jennah Coffman made a pair of 3-pointers early in the second stanza, the second of which pushed MACU's lead to 25-16 with 8:05 left in the first half. The Rams closed to within five points on a 3-pointer from Tomi Sanchez that cut the Lady Evangels lead to 27-22 with 6:45 to play, but moments later, MACU seized control. MACU closed the half on a 15-7 run and at the intermission, the Lady Evangels led 45-31.
Texas Wesleyan trimmed the MACU lead to eight early in the third quarter, but a 3-pointer from Coffman and a fast break bucket from Alexis Shannon pushed the margin back to 13 at 54-41 with 6:53 left, and the margin stabilized. In the final 16 minutes of the game, the Lady Evangels' lead never dipped into single digits, and MACU cruised in with the victory, 79-68.
Shannon notched her fifth double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 23 points and pulling in a dozen boards. Coffman scored 16, and she grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists, and Ossyana Ozoani added 11 tallies in the game. Denton and Brittany Thompson scored nine points apiece, and Chelseah Savage added eight along with five rebounds and five helpers. MACU made 27-of-63 (42.9%) shots in the game, and they made 7-of-24 (29.2%) 3-pointers. At the foul line, MACU was 18-of-24 (75%).
The Lady Evangels will hit the road for a critical three game SAC road trip on Saturday. They will head south to Waxahachie, Texas to take on the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lions (7-10, 4-7 SAC). The Lady Evangels will be attempting to avenge an earlier season loss to the Lions in Oklahoma City. The game is slated to tip-off at 3 p.m.
