OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team got back on the winning track Thursday night at the Gaulke Activity Center as the Evangels opened Sooner Athletic Conference play with an 87-71 victory over Langston.

Senior forward Alexis Shannon led four Evangels into double-figures with 25 points while senior forward Jessica Fairley had a big game off the Mid-America Christian (5-2, 1-0 SAC) bench with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Langston (1-3, 0-1 SAC) kept things close through the first 3:08 of the first quarter as a Kaylie Mitchell bucket put the Lady Lions up 8-6. However, the Evangels strung together a strong response as a Shannon offense rebound and putback on the ensuing possession started a 17-2 MACU run that was capped off on a pair of Shannon free throws to give the Evangels a 23-10 advantage with 3:58 remaining in the quarter.

MACU maintained a 10-point advantage throughout the remainder of the period and it appeared the Evangels would take a 13-point edge into the second quarter after Anna Kash buried a three-pointer with nine seconds left, but LU's Jailynn Lawson drove down the court and knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to keep it to a 28-18 MACU edge.

Neither team could find an offensive rhythm through the first five minutes of the second quarter as the Evangels slightly outscored the Lady Lions 5-4 in the first 4:55, but a Rachel Tapps sank a triple from the right corner on a nice pass from Shannon in the late with 5:05 remaining jumpstarted an 18-3 streak. Fairley finished off the run with a four-point play when she knocked down a three from the left wing and got fouled with 1:34, sinking the free throw to extend the MACU advantage to 52-25.

Mid-America Christian maintained its 27-point edge at 54-27 at the half, as the Evangels shot 60 percent from the floor and from three while also converting 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes of action. The defense was also able to clamp down on the Lady Lions, holding them to just 30.7 percent from the field and 28.5 percent from three.

A pair of early Shannon buckets in the third pushed the lead back out to 58-31 with 8:04 remaining, but the Lady Lions were able to contain MACU to just two points over the next 6:31 to claw their way back to a 17-point deficit at 60-43.

MACU regained its mojo over the final 1:33, closing out the quarter on a 9-2 run that included seven Fairley points to hold a 69-45 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Mid-America Christian was able to push its advantage to as much as 30 after opening the final quarter with a Shannon score and a pair of Sydney Wycoff layups, setting the score at 75-45 with 8:02 to go.

The Evangels struggled offensively down the stretch in the fourth quarter, being held to just 12 points in the final eight minutes, but the comeback efforts for Langston were too little, too late as the Lady Lions could only scratch the lead down to 16 for an 87-71 final.

Despite a cold-shooting second half, the Evangels still finished 50-plus percent from the floor after making 31-for-61 (50.8 percent), 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from three and 17-for-25 (68 percent) from the free throw line. The Lady Lions could only muster 29-for-76 (38.2 percent) from the floor, 6-for-19 (31.6 percent) from three and 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from the foul line.

It was a sloppy game for both teams as MACU committed a season-high 30 turnovers, but still managed to force Langston into committing 27 of their own. However, the Evangels dominated the glass, owning a 49-to-39 rebounding edge in the contest.

Shannon notched her fourth 25-plus point performance of the season, converting on 10-for-17 of her shots, including 2-for-3 from the three-point arc to go with seven rebounds. Fairley proved to be the spark off the MACU bench the team needed as she recorded her 18 points on 6-of-10 from the field, 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe in just 18 minutes.

Senior forward Loralei Siliga added 10 points on 5-for-9 from the field to go with eight boards while Wycoff rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists. 

Mid-America Christian will look to move to 2-0 in conference play on Saturday as the Evangels will travel to McPherson, Kan. for a 2 p.m. tip against Central Christian.