OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team struggled to slow down Science & Arts late on Tuesday night as the Drovers rallied to hand the Evangels a 75-71 home loss, their first defeat inside the Gaulke Activity Center during the 2019-20 season.
Senior forward Alexis Shannon pieced together another great performance, scoring 24 points on 10-for-22 shooting and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Shannon notched her sixth double-double of the season, ripping down 10 rebounds, but the Evangels couldn't quite muster enough offense against the stingy Drovers defense to get the win.
After a back-and-forth struggle through the first three minutes offensively, Mid-America Christian (14-6, 7-4 Sooner Athletic Conference) gained the momentum midway through the first quarter. With 6:37 to go, Lexi Hernandez splashed her second three-pointer from the right wing to start a string of eight unanswered. Shannon continued the run with a three-point play and Aaliyah Endsley capped the run with a strong driving layup to make it an 11-5 MACU lead with 5:07 left.
Science & Arts (12-7, 7-4 SAC) trimmed the deficit to two on a pair of occasions, but an Endsley free throw and Hernandez's fourth three-pointer of the quarter with 16 seconds to go gave MACU an 18-12 advantage after one.
Early in the second quarter, a pair of Shannon buckets extended the Evangels' edge to 22-14 with 8:49 remaining, but a pesky USAO press forced MACU into committing turnovers, allowing the Drovers to rally with an 11-1 run to take a 25-23 lead with 6:04 to go until the half. It was USAO's first advantage since the 6:48 mark in the opening quarter.
Despite an Endsley score bring the game back to a deadlock, the Drovers continued to pull away, stretching their lead to as much as eight at 35-27 with 2:23 until the break.
Freshman guard Anna Kash willed Mid-America Christian back, scoring five of the next seven points, including a last-second lay-in to cut the deficit to 37-32 at the half.
Mid-America Christian found its stride again in the second half, as threes by Hernandez, Endsley and Rachel Tapps in the first 3:32 brought the Evangels back to a 41-all tie.
Trapped in a tug-of-war over the next six minutes that included seven lead changes and three ties, Kash put the Evangels ahead after three with a layup at the 48 second mark and another buzzer-beating lay-in to take a 55-52 edge into the final quarter of play.
Even though MACU gave up the first score of the fourth quarter, the Evangels rattled off nine of the next 10 points, five of which coming from Shannon to take their largest lead of the half at 64-55 with 6:47 to go.
MACU maintained a nine-point edge until the 4:34 mark as Science & Arts chipped away over the next four minutes until three Tori James free throws with 27 seconds left shrank the Evangels lead to 70-69.
Tapps knocked down one of two free throws to make it 71-69 MACU, but the Drovers' Nadoraje Cage nailed the go-ahead three on the right wing with 18 seconds left off an in-bound pass and screen, forcing the Evangels to call a timeout.
Shannon had an opportunity to put MACU back in-front, but her attempt at the rim was blocked by Khady Sene and she was able to seal the win from the free throw line in the final 10 seconds to hand the Evangels a 75-71 defeat.
Mid-America Christian managed to shoot 26-for-60 (43.3 percent) from the field and 8-for-20 (40 percent from three. However, the Drovers won the rebounding battle, outrebounding the Evangels 43-39 and committed 13 turnovers to MACU's 16.
Hernandez notched 15 points in the contest, going 5-for-9 from beyond the arc while recording a team-high three steals. Kash broke double-figures for the third straight game, tallying 11 on 4-of-10 shooting off the Evangels bench. Tapps dished out a team-best five assists in the losing effort.
With both teams winning on each other's home courts, the Evangels and Drovers split the regular season series after MACU defeated USAO 75-73 in overtime back on Dec. 13 at the USAO Fieldhouse.
Mid-America Christian will look to bounce back on the road on Thursday as the Evangels will head to Siloam Springs, Ark. for a 6 p.m. matchup at John Brown.
