OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team survived a late scare from Southwestern Assemblies of God as the Evangels defense was able to thwart a couple of potential game-winning shots in the final 10 seconds to hold on for an 86-83 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Gaulke Activity Center.

Trailing 83-82 with 14 seconds left, senior forward Alexis Shannon drew a foul and was able to bury a couple of clutch free throws to put Mid-America Christian (13-4, 6-2 SAC) in-front by one. Southwestern Assemblies of God (7-8, 2-6) had two close looks when SAGU's Kiara Glenn drove the lane and threw up a right-handed layup and again when Phillipa Greene ripped down an offensive rebound and tried for a quick putback. However, senior forward Loralei SIliga came up with the defensive rebound and was fouled with 2.8 seconds left and iced the game away from the foul line.

Shannon led the Evangels with 24 points, 18 of which came in the second half on 8-of-17 shooting, including going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the foul line to go with eight boards and three steals. Junior guard Lexi Hernandez played a pivotal role in the victory, scoring a career-high 21 points on 7-for-11 from the field, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to go with four steals on defense.

SAGU jumped out to a 7-2 lead on the Evangels through the first 2:49, but MACU found its stride as a Hernandez triple jumpstarted the team to a dominating 15-0 run over the next 5:50 stretch. Hernandez sank a pair of free throws with 1:17 remaining to end the run, setting the score to 17-7.

However, the Lady Lions grabbed the momentum late, ending the quarter with an 8-3 run to close the gap to 20-15 heading into the second quarter.

SAGU had all of the momentum early on in the second period, as the Lady Lions rattled off an 11-2 run in the first three minutes with a Lexi Rich three giving SAGU a 26-22 advantage.

Mid-America Christian fought back to tie the score at 26 on a Siliga layup and then once again at 28 on a pair of Anna Kash free throws, but Evangels struggled to maintain any sort of offensive flow through the final five minutes as Southwestern Assemblies ended the period with a 10-6 run to hold a 38-34 advantage at the halftime break.

The Lady Lions shot a blistering 14-for-27 (51.9 percent) from the field in the opening half, including 6-for-12 (50 percent) from the three-point arc while the Evangels could only muster 13-of-34 (38.2 percent) shooting and 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from three. MACU's defense and free throw shooting was able to keep the game close heading into the break, forcing 10 Lady Lions turnovers while converting a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.

SAGU continued to pull away early in the second half as another Rich three-pointer with 5:48 left in the third quarter gave the Lady Lions their largest lead of the game at 51-41.

On the next possession, Siliga muscled in an and-one that fired up the Evangels as the Oakland, Calif. product alongside Shannon combined to score all of MACU's points during a 16-2 streak over the next 3:08. Shannon drained a three from the top of the key on a kick-out by Rachel Tapps to close out the run, making it 57-53 MACU with 2:33 remaining in the period.

Once again, SAGU captured the momentum late in the quarter, holding the Evangels scoreless in the last two minutes while rattling off five unanswered to take back a 58-57 edge heading into the fourth period.

The Lady Lions maintained a three-point edge through the first 3:06 before the Evangels caught fire once again. An Endsley layup followed by back-to-back threes by Hernandez and Jessica Fairly pushed MACU back out in-front, 71-67 with 4:42 left.

Rich knocked down a three of her own to shrink the SAGU deficit back to one, but Hernandez took over, scoring the next seven points and Endsley chipped in a layup on a strong take to the right side, making it an 80-70 edge for MACU with 2:19 remaining.

Southwestern Assemblies refused to go down without a fight as the Lady Lions once again clawed their way back by tallying 13 of the next 15 points. With 15 seconds to go, Rich stole the MACU in-bound and laid in the go-ahead layup to make it an 83-82 Lady Lions edge, but it ultimately set up Shannon to make the game-winning free throws on the ensuing possession before holding on for an 86-83 win.

Mid-America Christian had a sharp offensive performance in the second half, knocking down 14-for-29 (48.3 percent) while going a blistering 6-for-8 (75 percent) from three and converting 18-of-20 (90 percent) from the charity stripe. Overall, MACU shot 42.9 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from three for the contest.

One of the biggest pieces to MACU winning the ball game was by getting the job done from the free throw line, knocking down 24-of-26 (92.3 percent) from the charity stripe. It was the first time MACU shot better than 90 percent from the foul line since converting 28-for-30 in a 100-91 win over LSU Shreveport at the Oklahoma City Classic on Nov. 19, 2016.

Joining Shannon and Hernandez in double-figures was Endsley with 12 points on 3-for-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line to go with four assists and three steals. Siliga also notched 12 points while ripping down seven rebounds.

Tapps put together one of her best games at the point for MACU, finishing with a team-high eight rebounds and seven assists. 

Mid-America Christian will now turn its attention to Southwestern Christian as the Evangels will host the Eagles on Thursday, Jan. 23 for a 6 p.m. tip inside the Gaulke Activity Center.