OKLAHOMA CITY - The Mid-America Christian University women's basketball team took to the floor after more than a week off since their last game on Wednesday afternoon, and the layoff looked to have a rejuvenating effect on the Evangels. MACU played with high energy from the opening tip, and MACU earned a trip to the NCCAA regional final with a resounding win.
MACU (21-9) Opened the game on an 11-1 run, and they never looked back, taking down the Nebraska Christian College Sentinels (15-13), 96-54.
Ossyana Ozoani started the game off with a steal that led to a bucket, and NCC never got the game back level. A made free throw just more than a minute later from Kayla Bloodworth trimmed the MACU lead to 2-1, but MACU answered with nine straight points to take an 11-1 lead with 6:43 to play on a made 3-pointer from Jessica Fairley. NCC did eventually cut the deficit to five at 15-10 with less than a minute to play, but two free throws from Loralei Siliga, and made shots from Shaylan Coleman and Alexis Shannon helped MACU close the quarter out with an 11-point lead, at 21-10.
MACU scored the first six points of the second stanza to extend their run to 12-0, and with 7:34 left in the second frame, Darby Price pushed MACU's lead to 33-12 to give the Evangels their first 20-point lead of the day. The lead reached 24 points twice in the second period, and at the half, MACU led comfortably, 41-19.
A 9-2 run late in the third quarter helped MACU open their lead to 30 points on a 3-point play from Nevada Denton, and a later 9-0 spurt took the advantage to 36 on a pair of made free throws from Siliga with 30 seconds to go in the period, and MACU's lead after three was 73-39. The lead reached 40 on a basket from Jennah Coffman with 2:42 to play in the game, and a 3-pointer from Jaidan Alley pushed it to a high water mark of 43 at 94-51 with one minute remaining. MACU closed out the final minute without incident, and the Evangels won the game 96-54.
Coleman tied for the game-high with 18 points, and she added 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Siliga scored 11 in the game, and Coffman and Sydney Wycoff added 10 apiece. Coleman also had three assists and three steals, Siliga picked up three steals, and Denton added three assists.
As a team, MACU made 37 of 80 (46.3%) shots in the game, including 11 of 27 (40.7%) 3-point attempts. MACU did struggle at the foul line, making only 11 of 20 (55%) tries. MACU grabbed 59 rebounds in the game, and the Evangels dominated the game off the bench (48-7) and in the paint (46-12).
The win moves MACU to the regional title game, which will be on Thursday night at 6 p.m. There, MACU will battle Southwestern Christian University (11-18) after the Eagles upset the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lady Lions in the other semifinal game. The game is a re-match of the 2018 NCCAA regional championship tilt, which was won by SCU.
