AUSTIN, Texas – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team could not slow down Huston-Tillotson in the fourth quarter as the Rams outscored the Evangels 29-19 in the final 10 minutes to hand MACU its first loss of the 2019-20 season by a score of 74-66 on Saturday.
Even though Mid-America Christian (3-1) shot a blistering 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) from beyond the arc, the Evangels couldn't keep up with Huston-Tillotson's (2-0) torrid fourth quarter pace as the Rams knocked down 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) from the field and 4-of-4 from three in the final period.
Junior guard Lexi Hernandez led MACU with 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting and converted on 2-for-5 from the arc while Aaliyah Endsley poured in 13 off the Evangels bench on 5-of-6 from the floor.
The Rams led by as much as seven in the first quarter, jumping out to a 10-3 edge through the first 5:17. However, the Evangels were finally able to find a groove in the final five minutes of the quarter as MACU outscored Huston Tillotson 11-4 over the stretch. Avery Gregory's layup with 57 seconds to go tied the score at 14 heading into the second quarter.
The defenses clamped down over the first three minutes of the second quarter with neither team being able to grab the lead until Sydney Wycoff's layup gave the Evangels their first lead since Rachel Tapp's game-opening free throw to make it an 16-14 game.
Huston-Tillotson battled back to lead by as much as five late in the period, but Anna Kash knocked down a three with 23 seconds left to close the gap to 26-24. However, HTU's Gemma Alhambra knocked down a buzzer-beater on the final possession to send the Evangels into the half with the four-point deficit.
The Evangels trailed for a majority of the third period, but closed out the final 1:28 strong by overcoming the Rams' four-point lead on threes by Hernandez and Anna Kash to take a 47-45 edge into the final period of play.
Mid-America Christian and Huston-Tillotson went back-and-forth through the first six minutes as Jessica Fairley bucket gave the Evangels a 62-60 edge, but MACU went cold down the stretch as the Rams pulled away with a 14-4 run over the final 3:09.
The Evangels will look to regroup next weekend as they will head uptown to compete in the Oklahoma City University Classic. MACU will open the tourney with a 6 p.m. matchup on Friday, Nov. 15 against Haskell Indian Nations University before taking on Philander Smith at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena.
