OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team gave a strong challenge to the second-ranked team the country, but Oklahoma City pulled away in the second half to hand the Evangels an 82-64 defeat on Saturday afternoon at Abe Lemons Arena on Saturday.

Freshman guard Anna Kash led the Evangels with a career-high 16 points off the Mid-America Christian (14-5, 7-3 Sooner Athletic Conference) bench, knocking down 5-for-13 from the field and 3-for-8 from the three-point arc and 3-for-3 from the free throw line.

MACU had the early momentum as Alexis Shannon and Aaliyah Endsley knocked down threes before Lexi Hernandez buried a three-point bomb from the right wing with 4:57 to go, forcing the Stars to call a timeout.

Oklahoma City (18-0, 10-0 SAC) caught fire out of the timeout, stringing together 11 unanswered until Endsley knocked down her second three of the period from the left corner with a minute remaining to shrink the deficit to 17-12.

OCU's Abby Selzer put the Stars up seven on the Stars final possession of the quarter, making a 19-12 game after one.

The Stars extended their advantage to 11 early on in the second quarter with 8:13 remaining before the Evangels stormed their way back. Kash and Ossyana Ozoani came off the bench and rallied the troops by combining to score the next nine points. Ozoani capped the run by picking a Shannon blocked shot out of the air and laid it in just before the shot clock buzzer expired to set the score to 25-23 with 6:02 left.

Oklahoma City built its lead back up to as much as five with 2:16 to go, but MACU was able to knock it down to a one-point halftime deficit at 35-34 when Hernandez drained a three from the right wing at the buzzer.

Despite shooting just 12-for-38 (31.6 percent) from the field, the Evangels knocked down 8-for-22 (36.4 percent) from beyond the arc while limiting a strong OCU offense to just 13-for-36 (36.1 percent) from the floor.

After the Stars scored the first bucket of the second half, Rachel Tapps putback a missed Loralei Siliga jumper and the Evangels followed it up with another Hernandez triple from the left wing to take their only lead of the second half at 39-37 with 8:31 left.

OCU retaliated with six unanswered to reclaim a five-point edge, but the Evangels defense clamped down while buckets by Kash and Ozoani cut the deficit to 44-43 with 5:06 to go.

MACU struggled to score on the stifling Stars defense the remainder of the half as OCU went on a 15-5 run to close out the period with a 59-48 edge.

A pair of Siliga scores early in the fourth quarter closed the deficit to 62-54 with 7:26 left, but the Evangels couldn't find an answer for the Stars' Selzer down low as OCU pulled away with the 82-64 win.

Mid-America Christian finished the contest shooting 24-for-71 (33.8 percent) from the floor and 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) from three while knocking down 5-for-5 from the foul line. It was the first time the Evangels converted on all of their free throw attempts since facing Oklahoma City on Feb. 4, 2016, knocking down 4-for-4 from the foul line.

Ozoani joined Kash in double-figures with a season-high 12 points on 5-of-10 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line. Hernandez also poured in 12, going 4-for-8 from the three-point arc to go along with a career-best eight rebounds. Shannon led the Evangels on the glass with 12 boards and five assists.

Mid-America Christian will be back at home on Tuesday as the Evangels will take on Science & Arts at 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.