MCPHERSON, Kan. – The Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team opened defense of their National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) central region championship as the top seed in the 2018 central region tournament. The Lady Evangels drew the fourth-seeded Grace University (Neb.) Royals, and while the game had a back-and-forth feel, at the end of the night, MACU advanced to their second consecutive region championship game.
MACU (21-10) dominated the game in the paint, and that effort was led by a double-double from freshman Ossyana Ozoani, as the Lady Evangels claimed the 83-67 win over the Royals (17-14).
MACU roared out of the gate and built a large lead early in the contest. The Lady Evangels opened the game on a 12-2 run, and after another 8-0 run, MACU held a 22-5 lead with 1:27 to play in the first quarter. Grace connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to cut MACU's lead to 22-11 after one quarter of play.
The Royals quickly trimmed the margin to six just 2:21 into the second stanza, and the margin stayed in the single digits for much of the remainder of the first half. MACU did push the lead back to 10 with a pair of free throws from Ozoani with 2:51 to play in the period, and seconds later, Rebekah Wilson scored to put MACU up 36-24. The Royals, though, closed the half on an 8-0 run, and at intermission, MACU held a tenuous lead of 36-32.
MACU opened the second half on an 11-0 run to push their lead to 47-32 when Ozoani cashed in a traditional 3-point play with 7:34 to play in the period, and with 5:42 remaining, Jennah Coffman buried a 3-pointer to push MACU's lead to 54-34. Grace made one final push in the third, scoring 16 straight points to trim the margin to 54-50 before MACU edged their lead back to 60-50 at the end of the third.
MACU put the game away in the first 4:38 of the final period. The Lady Evangels started the fourth quarter on a 15-3 run to take a 22-point lead on a deep triple from Nevada Denton to give MACU a 75-53 lead. Alexis Shannon scored with 3:52 to play to give MACU their largest lead of the game at 79-56, and the Lady Evangels cruised in from there, taking the win 83-67.
Ozoanio scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to notch her second double-double of the season, and Shannon narrowly missed her eighth double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Denton (15) and Coffman (13) also scored in double-figures, and Chelseah Savage dished out 10 assists and added eight tallies in the win. MACU shot 34-for-81 (42%) form the floor, including 6-of-27 (22.2%) from long range. At the foul line, MACU was 9-for-10 (90%).
The Evangels will battle a familiar foe for the regional title on Friday evening when they take on the Eagles of Southwestern Christian University (12-17) at 5 p.m. for the right to earn an automatic berth to the NCCAA Division I National Championship at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana next week.
