MUSKOGEE, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team started off the new decade with a dominant defensive performance at Bacone College, limiting the Braves to just 48 points in an 85-48 victory at the Palmer Center on Thursday night.
Senior forward Alexis Shannon notched her second straight double-double, tallying a team-high 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting and knocked down 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to go with 10 boards, two steals and a block in just 22 minutes of action.
Coming off one of her toughest offensive performances of the season against Kansas Wesleyan, junior guard Lexi Hernandez found her shooting touch once again, notching 16 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.
Mid-America Christian (10-2) got off to a strong start in its 2020 opener as Aaliyah Endsley and Hernandez converted three-pointers on the Evangels first two possessions to jump out to an early 6-0 advantage, but Bacone (1-10) was able to keep within striking distance for the remainder of the quarter as MACU held just a 14-11 edge after one quarter of play.
However, not only did the Evangels find their stroke in the second quarter, but the defense clamped down on the Braves, limiting BC to just one field goal at the 37 second mark while outscoring them 28-3 in the period to take a 42-14 lead into the halftime break.
MACU scored the first eight points in the second quarter before a Braves free throw brought the Evangels' advantage back down to 10 at 22-12 with 6:55 remaining.
The Evangels followed it up with a string of 20 unanswered, capped off on a Hernandez layup with a minute left to give MACU a 42-12 lead before the Braves converted a layup just before the half.
Mid-America Christian built its lead up to as much as 34 in the third period when Rachel Tapps drained a long range three from the right side off a Hernandez assist, setting the score at 51-17 with 6:54 remaining before MACU took a 63-32 edge into the fourth quarter.
MACU never led by less than 31 the rest of the way as a Shelby Thrailkill free throw at the 3:55 mark gave the Evangels their largest lead of the contest at 81-42.
As a team, Mid-America Christian shot 35-for-78 (44.9 percent) from the field, 8-for-34 (23.5 percent) from the three-point arc and 7-of-10 (70 percent) from the foul line while the defense limited the Braves to just 19-of-57 (33.3 percent) shooting and 2-for-19 (10.5 percent) from beyond the arc while forcing Bacone into committing 22 turnovers.
The Evangels also dominated the Braves on the glass with a 48-34 edge in the rebounding margin, which including 19 offensive boards.
In just 12 minutes of work, senior forward Loralei Siliga rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Senior forward Ossyana Ozoani led MACU on the glass with a season-high 13 rebounds, just one shy of tying her career-high set against Grace University on March 8, 2018.
Endsley led the Evangels defensive efforts with a season-high four steals while Jessica Fairley finished with a pair of blocked shots.
The 48 points given up by the Evangels is also tied for the fewest points allowed to the Braves since their 124-48 win back on Jan. 10, 2019. It was also the fewest points BC has ever scored against MACU on its home court, with the previous low coming in a 70-52 Evangels victory on Nov. 6, 2008.
With the win, MACU is off to its first 10-2 start since the 2016-17 season when the Evangels won 10 of their first 11.
Mid-America Christian will return to Sooner Athletic Conference play with its third game in six days as the Evangels host John Brown on Saturday, Jan. 5 for a 2 p.m. tip at the Gaulke Activity Center.
