WINONA LAKE, Ind. - The Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team took the floor on Thursday evening trying to do something that no defending NCCAA National Champion had done since 2011. Complicating that further was the opponent, tournament host Grace College, and the partisan home crowd.
When the dust settled, however, neither of those items mattered. Instead, the play of MACU's two leading scorers took center stage and as a result, MACU's title defense has one more step in front of it.
Alexis Shannon tied a career-high with 32 points, and she was complemented by a phenomenal effort from Shaylan Coleman, as MACU (24-9) charged past the Lancers (17-16) 91-76.
The game started out well for MACU, as Shannon and Coleman helped MACU score six of the first eight points in the game, but as would be the story of the first half, the Evangels were not able to put any distance between themselves and the Lancers. There were nine lead changes, and three additional tie scores in the quarter. As the back and forth continued, MACU held off the Lancers and at the end of the first quarter, 22-20.
The Lancers quickly reclaimed the lead, scoring the first five points of the period to take a 25-22 lead. MACU answered with a 7-0 run that was capped by a Jennah Coffman 3-pointer with 5:38 to play in the half, but Grace managed to keep things close. With under a minute to play in the half, Shannon cashed in a pass from Ossyana Ozoani to give MACU their largest lead of the game at 40-34, and when the horn sounded to end the second frame, MACU led 42-37.
Back-to-back triples from Shannon and Jessica Fairley helped MACU open an 11-point lead just more than a minute into the third quarter, and while MACU struggled to get much more separation, they also kept Grace at bay. A bucket from Shannon with 6:36 to go in the frame pushed the Evangels' lead to a high-water mark of 14 at 56-42, but Grace attempted to rally again. The Lancers managed to close the gap to seven several times in the frame, and despite a 17-point quarter from Shannon, MACUheld the lead 68-61.
Grace closed to within four on three separate occasions, but the Evangels were able to prevent the Lancers with an 8-1 run to take an 81-70 lead. Grace scored six straight points to close the gap to 81-76 on a 3-pointer with 4:44 to go, but the MACU defense clamped down and shut out Grace for the rest of the night. MACU scored the final 10 points of the game, with Coleman netting five of those as a part of a nine-point frame to help MACU claim a 91-76 win and a spot in the NCCAA championship game for the second straight year.
The last defending champion to make a return trip to the title game since 2011. In that season, the Bethel College (Ind.) Pilots played their way to the title game where they won their second straight title.
Shannon equalled her career high with 32 points, and she added 10 rebounds to notch her 11th double-double of the season. In the process, Shannon passed Tara Bengs (1999-2003) for seventh on the MACU All-time scoring list. Shannon now has 1,191 career points, and she is seven points shy of matching her season total from a year ago. The next player on the scoring list ahead of Shannon is Ashley Hewitt (2001-03) at 1,225 points.
As good as Shannon was, Coleman might have been even better. Coleman tallied 27 points, and she added seven rebounds, eight assists, and six steals in the game, as she facilitated the Evangels' offense all night. Fairley was the only other Evangel in double figures, and she tallied 10 points.
MACU shot the ball well all night, but they were particularly good in the second half. The Evangels were 35-for-67 (52.2%) for the game, including 9-for-19 (47.4%) from long distance. Both numbers were better in the second half, when MACU was 17-for-27 (63%) from the floor, and 5-for-8 (62.5%) from deep. In the game, MACU was 12-for-16 (75%) from the foul line.
The Evangels will conclude their season on Saturday at 4 p.m. when MACU will try to win their fourth NCCAA title when they take on the Brewton-Parker College (Ga.) Barons (20-12). The Barons have reached the title game by rallying to defeat the Judson University (Ill.) Eagles 75-72 in the quarterfinal, and romping over the Roberts Wesleyan College (N.Y.) RedHawks 81-49 on Thursday.
