OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team had to weather an early storm, but once they did, the Lady Evangels took over their game against John Brown University on Thursday evening.
MACU (16-7, 10-5 SAC) used a dominant second quarter to take control of the contest, completing a season sweep of the Golden Eagles (14-9, 8-6 SAC) with a 95-81 win at the Gaulke Activity Center.
The teams traded 3-pointers in the opening minute, and MACU built a modest 7-3 lead early in the first quarter. JBU rallied, though, making 7-of-12 3-point attempts in the stanza to take a 27-17 lead with 36 seconds to play. The Lady Evangels, however, got a 3-point play from Alexis Shannon and a fast break layup from Nevada Denton to cut the deficit to 27-22 after 10 minutes of play.
JBU opened the second quarter with their eighth 3-pointer of the game, but MACU quickly answered over half of the period gone. After a 3-point play cut the Lady Evangels' lead to one, MACU rattled off another 9-0 run to take a 43-33 lead, and the Lady Evangels closed the half on another 8-0 run, building a 51-36 lead at the break.
Jennah Coffman scored the first points of the second half, but JBU began to whittle away at the deficit. The Golden Eagles closed the gap to 11 at the 7:03 mark, and with 4:57 to play, the margin dipped under 10 points at 61-52. JBU eventually closed to within six at 63-57, but MACU pushed the margin back to nine by quarter's end, and entering the fourth frame, the Lady Evangels led 71-62.
JBU took advantage of a turnover in the opening minute of the final period, and the Golden Eagles closed the gap to 71-67. Over the final minutes, however, the Lady Evangels pulled away. Jessica Fairley buried a 3-pointer with 6:10 to go to restore a double-digit lead at 83-72. Shannon scored at the 2:58 mark to push the MACU lead to 11 for good, and a free throw make from Chelseah Savage at the 1:01 mark gave MACU a 15-point lead at 93-78 on the way to the 95-81 victory.
Shannon posted her fifth 30-point game of the season, leading all scorers with 31 points in the game. She made 13-of-19 shots in the game, and she also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists. Fairley had 18 points and four steals, Savage chipped in 15 points along with six rebounds and six helpers, and Denton scored 13 in the game with five boards and three steals.
As a team, MACU made 37-of-68 (54.4%) shots in the game, including 11-of-24 (45.8%) from long distance, but at the foul line, MACU made only 10-of-16 (62.5%) attempts. MACU dominated the game down low, outscoring JBU 46-18 in the paint, and the Lady Evangels also held the edge on the fast break (10-2) and points off turnovers (28-12).
The Evangels hit the road on Saturday for their final road game of the 2017-18 regular season. The Lady Evangels will head to Muskogee, Oklahoma to battle the Bacone College Warriors (13-10, 5-9 SAC). Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.
