GOODWELL, Okla. – After suffering its first Sooner Athletic Conference loss of the season on Thursday night, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team rebounded with a strong 79-53 victory against Oklahoma Panhandle State at the Oscar Williams Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Senior forward Alexis Shannon was nearly unstoppable on the offensive end, leading the Evangels with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including going 2-for-4 from the three-point line.
After giving up a bucket on the first possession of the game, Mid-America Christian (12-3, 5-1 SAC) caught fire as a Lexi Hernandez three-pointer ignited a 9-2 run to give the Evangels a five-point edge just 2:50 into the game.
Oklahoma Panhandle State (4-10, 0-6 SAC) strung together six unanswered to retake a 10-9 lead with 5:17 remaining in the quarter, but it was Hernandez once again delivering a big three-pointer from the left wing to put the Evangels in-front for good at 12-10.
The triple jumpstarted a 7-0 streak to give the Evangels a 16-10 advantage, but OPSU managed to cut the deficit to four at 19-15 after one quarter of play.
MACU pushed the tempo to start the second quarter as a pair of Loralei Siliga fastbreak layups started a string of six unanswered, capped off on a pair of Ossyana Ozoani free throws to give the Evangels its first double-digit lead at 25-15 with 7:44 to go.
The Aggies closed the gap to eight on a pair of occasions, but the Evangels maintained a double-digit lead for a majority of the second period, closing out the quarter by scoring five of the last six points in the final 2:45 to hold a 38-24 edge at the halftime break.
The Evangels outshot the Aggies by a 43.8-to-29.6 percent margin in the opening half while the MACU defense limited OPSU to just 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) from the three-point arc. Shannon led the Evangels with 14 points on 6-of-9 from the floor.
The Mid-America Christian defense picked up where it left off to start the third quarter, holding Panhandle State scoreless through the first 3:03 while Shannon buried a layup and a three-pointer from the right corner to extend the Evangels' edge to 43-25.
The Aggies battled back with a string of seven unanswered to close the gap to 43-32, but Siliga snapped the streak with a strong hook shot from the right side to push the edge back to 13 with 4:43 left.
A few minutes later, the Evangels were able to stretch their advantage out by stringing together seven straight on a strong layup by Hernandez and also buried a three from the right corner on the ensuing possession. Shannon capped the run with a fastbreak layup off an Ozoani steal, setting the score to 54-35 with 2:52 to go in the period.
Mid-America Christian ended the third quarter on a solid note as Endsley had a strong drive to the basket from the left corner and laid it in with five seconds on the clock, giving MACU a 60-40 edge heading into the fourth quarter.
The Evangels cruised to victory with its best run of the game in the fourth quarter, putting together 14 unanswered between the 4:35 and 1:22 marks to give MACU its largest lead of the game at 77-49 before cruising to a 79-53 victory.
Mid-America Christian closed out the game by shooting 29-of-58 (50 percent) from the field while limiting Oklahoma Panhandle State to just 16-for-53 (30.2 percent) shooting, including 4-of-27 (14.8 percent) from the three-point arc.
Hernandez poured in 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting with a trio of three-pointers to go with a pair of steals on the defensive end. Freshman guard Anna Kash pitched in 11 points and Siliga rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points on 4-of-8 from the field along with a team-high three steals and two blocked shots.
Rachel Tapps led MACU on the glass with eight rebounds and tied with Endsley with five assists apiece.
With the victory, the Evangels have now won four straight against the Aggies after dropping their first ever meeting when OPSU joined the conference prior to the start of the 2017-18 season . The 26-point margin of victory is also MACU's most dominant win ever over the Aggies, surpassing the previous best of 23 in an 84-61 win back at the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 17, 2018.
Mid-America Christian will wrap up its three-game road stand on Thursday, Jan. 16 as the Evangels will travel to Fort Worth, Texas for a 6 p.m. tip-off against Texas Wesleyan.
