OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team closed out the 2019 portion of its season with a big time victory over Kansas Wesleyan, holding off the Coyotes for a 64-61 New Year's Eve win at the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday afternoon.
A stifling Kansas Wesleyan (11-4) press allowed the Coyotes to rally back from 14 points down, but a strong defensive play by Rachel Tapps on KWU's final offensive possession caused Kelsey Hinz to rush a three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer, bricking off the back iron to propel Mid-America Christian to 9-2 on the season.
Senior forward Loralei Siliga led the MACU scoring efforts for the third straight game, tallying 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, but none were bigger than her fastbreak layup with 39 seconds left to extend the Evangels edge to 64-56. The Oakland, Calif. native also added five rebounds and a pair of steals in the win.
Junior guard Aaliyah Endsley put together a strong all-around game for the Evangels as well, chipping in 12 points on 5-for-12 from the floor with a team-high four assists along with three steals while Alexis Shannon notched her third double-double of the season with a team-leading 13 rebounds to go with 10 points.
Senior forward Ossyana Ozoani came just a rebound shy of a double-double in her finest performance of the season, scoring 11 points and ripped down nine rebounds while recording three steals.
The Evangels and Coyotes traded buckets in the early going before back-to-back Siliga scores to go with a Tapps three-pointer from the top of the key with 5:47 remaining gave MACU an early 9-2 edge in the first quarter.
A pair of KWU buckets closed the gap to three, but an Ozoani layup and free throw followed by a Jessica Fairley three-pointer from the corner gave MACU its largest lead of the period at 15-6 with 1:27 left. However, Courtney Brockhoff buried a triple to make it a 15-9 game heading into the second quarter.
A Siliga three-pointer at the 9:31 mark pushed the MACU edge back to nine, but the Coyotes rallied with an 11-1 run over the next four minutes that included a trio of three-pointers, giving KWU its only lead of the game at 20-19 with 5:39 to go until the half.
On the ensuing possession, Anna Kash splashed a three from the left wing to put MACU back in-front for good as the Evangels slowly built upon its lead for the remainder of the half until a pair of Endsley free throws with 16 seconds left sent Mid-America Christian into the locker room with a 36-26 advantage.
The Coyotes once again held the momentum in the early going of the second half, opening the third period with an 11-4 run to whittle the Evangels edge to 40-37 with 5:46 left.
However, the Evangels defense stiffened over the final five minutes to close out the quarter with 11 unanswered, giving MACU a 51-37 edge heading into the last period of play.
Mid-America Christian maintained a double-digit advantage for most of the fourth quarter, but the Coyotes implemented a fiery full-court press late, successfully forcing MACU into committing six turnovers in the final 2:30 to eventually. A pair of Haleigh Bradford free throws with 17 seconds left finally made it a one-possession game, setting the score at 64-61.
The Evangels had an opportunity to put the Coyotes away from the foul line, but two misses gave KWU new life before a diving defensive play by Tapps on the right wing disrupted the Kansas Wesleyan set, pushing the ball back into the backcourt and forcing KWU to rush a missed shot from the right corner at the buzzer to come away with the win.
The feisty MACU defense held Kansas Wesleyan to just 34.4 percent from the field and forced the Coyotes into committing 24 turnovers to snap KWU's seven-game winning streak. Four Evangels recorded three or more steals, led by Fairley and Lexi Hernandez with four apiece.
The Evangels needed its strong defensive effort in the win as the Evangels struggled on the offensive end against the lengthy Coyote bigs. MACU was held to its second-lowest scoring output (64 points) on its second-worst shooting clip (35.2 percent) and its worst output of the season from the three-point arc (4-for-22, 18.2 percent).
Mid-America Christian will take a 9-2 record into 2020 for the second straight season as the Evangels will hunt for its 10th win at Bacone College to open the new year on Jan. 2.
