OkLAHOMA CITY - Playing in their first game against Oklahoma Christian University since March of 2014, the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team benefitted from a historic night from one of their best to take their first win over an institution with full membership in NCAA Division II since the 2013-14 season.
Alexis Shannon scored a career best 41 points in the win, grabbing 11 rebounds to complete the double-double that led MACU (6-1) to the win over OC (5-4) 84-78.
Shaylan Coleman opened the scoring on a layup with 42 seconds gone in the game, and after OC tied the game on a Katie Mayo layup at the 7:54 mark, and then Shannon took over. The junior from Noblesville, Indiana scored the next eight points of the game to give the Evangels a 10-2 lead and force the Eagles into a timeout. The timeout helped OC right the ship a bit, but MACU kept the pressure on and maintained the lead until the 26 second mark when a pair of free throws from Addy Clift put the Eagles on top 17-15, but Shannon answered with a layup with just a dozen seconds left in the quarter, and after 10 minutes of play, the score was tied at 17.
The game stayed close throughout the second quarter with the lead changing hands twice. The first lead change came on a 3-pointer from Jessica Fairley at the 8:28 mark of the second quarter, and MACU built a modest lead until the Eagles wrestled it back with 3:59 left in the half. OC built a lead of as many as six points in the final four minutes of the frame, and they had a chance for more, but a turnover with only four seconds left in the half led to a layup for Ossyana Ozoani that beat the buzzer and trimmed MACU's halftime deficit to 40-36.
The Evangels began to assert themselves in the third quarter, and again, it was Shannon who took the lead. She scored 10 points in the quarter, but MACU was unable to get any significant lead. After Shannon scored to tie the score at 44 with 7:35 to play, the lead was not more than two points for either team for the rest of the quarter. The lead changed hands seven times in the period, and when the horn sounded to end the stanza, MACU held a 58-57 lead.
Sydney Wycoff buried a 3-pointer with 8:58 left on the clock in the final frame to give MACU a 61-58 lead, but OC put together one last rally to claim a 64-63 lead on a 3-pointer from Hannah Bentsen. Jennah Coffman hit a jumper with six minutes left in the game, and that shot ignited a 9-0 run that helped MACU put the game away. MACU's lead swelled to as many as 10 in the final moments of the game, and MACU took the win 84-78.
Shannon took on a starring role for MACU, as she poured in 41 points in the game on 15-for-28 shooting. She made 3-of-10 3-pointers in the game, and after a slow start at the foul line, Shannon finished the night 8-for-12 from the charity stripe. Coffman and Darby Price each scored nine points in the game, and Wycoff, Fairley, and Ozoani each added seven. Coleman dished out six assists, Fairley had four helpers, and Shannon assisted on three shots and picked up four steals in the game.
As a team, MACU made 30-of-76 (39.5%) shots in the game, including 8-of-31 (25.8%) from long range. At the line, MACU was 16-for-24 (66.7%), and the Evangels out-rebounded the Eagles 52-44, and the Evangels held the edge in all five enhanced scoring breakdowns - 40-28 in the paint, 22-9 off turnovers, 17-16 on second chances, 4-2 on the fast break, and 30-24 off the bench.
MACU will be back in action on Friday evening in a non-conference game at the Gaulke Activity Center against the NAIA-II #4 College of the Ozarks (10-1) at 6 p.m.
