OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team struggled to slow down Philander Smith's Ciara Pettis as the Evangels fell to the Panthers 68-62 in their final game at the Oklahoma City Classic in Abe Lemons Arena on Saturday.
Junior guard Lexi Hernandez led the Evangels with 18 points on 7-of-12 from the field to go with five rebounds, three assists and a team-high three steals while Alexis Shannon added 11 points to go with seven boards.
Mid-America Christian (4-2) was able to stick with Philander Smith (7-1) early on as the Evangels countered a PSC 5-0 run to open the game with six unanswered thanks to a Hernandez triple and a Loralei Siliga bucket with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter to take their only lead of the game at 6-5.
However, the Panthers pulled away over the final 4:18, outscoring MACU 16-6 to hold a 21-12 edge heading into the second quarter.
PSC built its advantage to as large as 13 at 36-23 with 2:29 to go, but the Evangels were able to chip away as a Hernandez layup started a 7-1 run, narrowing the deficit to 37-29 with 1:03 left until the half.
The Panthers countered with a three-pointer by Terralyn Dominick with 51 seconds to go to send Philander Smith into the half with a 40-29 advantage.
A strong start to the second half for the Panthers pushed the PSC lead to 47-29 with 8:27 to go in the third quarter, but the Evangels refused to relent as they slowly whittled the lead down to 10 with 30 seconds to go on a pair of Sydney Wycoff free throws.
Dominick added one more score for PSC on its final possession of the period to hold a 51-39 edge heading into the final period.
A Jessica Fairley layup along with a Shannon three-pointer to start the fourth quarter gave MACU some life, cutting the deficit to 51-44 with 8:33 remaining. However, the offense struggled to keep the momentum as a 10-2 PSC surge over the next three minutes expanded the Panthers lead back to 15.
The Evangels had one last strong push left in them, narrowing the gap to six with 39 seconds left with a pair of Hernandez layups on back-to-back possessions to set the score at 66-60. However, Pettis thwarted the rally on the ensuing possession with her 33rd point on a lay-in with 28 seconds left.
Despite Mid-America Christian outrebounding Philander Smith by a 60-37 margin, including a 24-to-9 edge on the offensive glass, the Evangels struggled to capitalize on the extra opportunities by shooting just 30 percent from the floor and losing the turnover battle, 23-15.
Wycoff, along with Siliga, led the Evangels on the glass by ripping down a career-high 11 rebounds while Aaliyah Endsley provided a defensive spark off the bench with three steals.
Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its Sooner Athletic Conference opener as the Evangels will face off against Langston University at 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday, Nov. 21.
