MCPHERSON, Kan. ? On December 14, the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team fell at home to fall to just a single game above the .500 mark for the season. Since that point, however, the Lady Evangels have been on a tear.
MACU (15-6, 9-4 SAC) broke the 100-point threshold for the second time this season and scored a season high 116 points, completing a season sweep of the Central Christian College Tigers (1-20, 0-13 SAC) with an emphatic 116-68 victory. The win is MACU's sixth in a row, and their 10th in their last 12 games.
MACU scored the first five points of the first quarter, and the Lady Evangels were off and running. Jessica Fairley knocked down her first 3-pointer of the night with 6:28 to go in the first period to push the MACU lead to 12-4, and just two and a half minutes later, she struck again to give MACU a 19-7 lead. MACU used a 12-4 run to finish the period, and after the first 10 minutes of play, the Lady Evangels led 36-16.
MACU kept the foot on the gas in the second quarter, quickly stretching their lead to 27 on a 3-pointer from Nevada Denton with just 3:47 elapsed in the period. The Tigers kept MACU from adding much more to the lead in the remainder of the quarter, though a basket from Janaya Hines with 57 seconds to play put MACU on top 56-26, and at intermission, the lead was 30, with the Lady Evangels leading 58-28.
After CCC scored the first points of the second half, Alexis Shannon ignited an 8-0 run from the Lady Evangels that extended the lead to 66-30, and after a 3-pointer from Ridglea Hearne of CCC, MACU poured in another eight straight points, the last six of which were scored by Fairley as MACU stretched their lead to 41 at 74-33. CCC put together an 11-4 run to trim the lead to 34, but a basket from Shelby Thrailkill in the dying seconds of the third frame gave MACU an 87-47 lead after three quarters.
Brittany Thompson scored with 6:11 to play in the fourth to push MACU to the century mark, and Thrailkill buried a 3-pointer with 3:48 to play to push the lead to a high-water mark of 48 at 108-60. The teams split the final 16 points, and when the final horn sounded, MACU had the emphatic 116-68 win.
MACU had six players in double-figures in the game, and eight with at least seven points. Fairley led the way with 25 points, Denton added 17, and Thompson chipped in a season-high 16 markers. Jennah Coffman added a dozen, Thrailkill had 11, and Shannon pitched in with 10. Ossyana Ozoani narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, and Jaidan Alley added seven points as well. Chelseah Savage did not score, however, she dished out a game-high six assists, and Fairley, Thrailkill, and Denton had five helpers each.
MACU blistered the nets from the floor (43-for-82; 52.4%) and from long distance (17-for-36; 47.2%), but they did have a slow night at the foul line, making 13-of-19 (68.4%) from the charity stripe. MACU dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Tigers 63-40, and MACU dished out a season-best 33 assists.
The win sets up a showdown in Oklahoma City on Saturday. The Lady Evangels now trail by just two games in the Sooner Athletic Conference race, and on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Evangels will head downtown to battle the NAIA #5 and SAC-leading Oklahoma City University Stars (18-4, 11-2 SAC). The game will tip off at OCU's Abe Lemons Arena at 1 p.m.
