OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team fought hard against nationally second-ranked Wayland Baptist before falling 84-72 on Thursday night at the Gaulke Activity Center.

 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Lexi Hernandez – 18 PTS, 7-16 FG, 8 REB, 2 AST
• Shelby Kraus – 10 PTS, 5-9 FG, 4 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STL
• Aaliyah Endsley – 7 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 1 STL

 
GAME SUMMARY

• 1^st Quarter
  • Even though Wayland Baptist (1-0) jumped out to a 6-0 advantage, Mid-America Christian (2-1) clawed back with six unanswered of their own on a pair of buckets in the paint from Shelby Kraus following a Presley Payahsape score to open the run to draw the game even. MACU eventually took its only lead of the contest on another Kraus layup to make it 12-11 with 3:50 to go.
  • Wayland Baptist responded with an 8-0 run before Lexi Hernandez hit a pull-up jumper with 28 seconds left to close the gap to 19-14 heading into the second period.
• 2^nd Quarter
  • Coming out of the break, McKenzi Lamer drained a three from the left side off an Aaliyah Endsley in-bound pass to trim the deficit to two at 19-17 just 10 seconds in, however, the Flying Queens answered back with nine straight of their own to push the WBU edge to 28-17 with 6:37 on the clock.
  • Wayland Baptist was able to extend its lead to as much as 15 at 38-23 with 2:29 remaining, but the Evangels finished strong with Aneli Thomsen getting a pair of lay-ins before the break to cut the WBU lead to 38-27 at the half.
• 3^rd Quarter
  • Once again, MACU started out strong in the second half as a pair of Anna Kash scores pulled MACU to within seven at 38-31 just 1:43 in.
  • The Flying Queens were able to get some more breathing room by scoring nine of the next 13 points to bring the score to 47-35, but MACU answered right back with six straight, as three apiece from Endsley and Kash trimmed the deficit to six with 4:49 to go.
  • Wayland Baptist went on a 16-3 run during the latter half of the quarter, bringing the score to 63-46 before MACU closed out with a Lexi Hernandez layup and three-pointer, slicing the Flying Queens' edge to 63-51 heading into the final period.
• 4^th Quarter
  • A pair of Hernandez free throws to open the quarter briefly closed the gap to 10, but another 10 unanswered run by WBU put the game nearly out of reach at 73-53 with 7:54 remaining.
  • Wayland Baptist maintained a 20-point advantage throughout most of the period, but the Evangels were able to close out by scoring nine of the final 10 points over the last 2:11 to wrap up the 84-72 defeat.

 
GAME NOTABLES

• The Evangels struggled to shoot against the Flying Queens defense, knocking down just 24-for-64 (37.5 percent) from the field and 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from the three-point arc. However, MACU did shoot an efficient 19-for-24 (79.2 percent) from the charity stripe, including going 15-for-16 (93.8 percent) in the fourth quarter. Defensively, MACU was able to hold Wayland Baptist to 34-of-85 (40 percent) shooting and 10-of-31 (32.3 percent) from three.
• MACU struggled to contain the WBU on the glass, as the Flying Queens finished with a 55-37 edge on the glass, but did win the turnover battle by forcing 17 turnovers while the Evangels committed just 14.
• Lexi Hernandez led the Evangels offensively and on the glass with 18 points and eight rebounds. Shelby Kraus was the only other MACU player to break double-figures with 10 points, four rebounds, a steal and a block.

 
NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will hit the road for the first time this season as the Evangels will travel to Waxahachie, Texas on Thursday, Nov. 12 for a 6 p.m. non-conference matchup against Southwestern Assemblies of God.