WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team suffered a tough road loss on Thursday night as Southwestern Assemblies of God rallied from an 11-point deficit to upset the Evangels 76-74.

Mid-America Christian (17-8, 9-6 Sooner Athletic Conference had a golden opportunity to come away with a win in the final seconds, but Anna Kash's game-winning three-point attempt with four seconds left fell just short as Southwestern Assemblies of God (11-11, 6-9 SAC) escaped with the win on its home floor.

Senior forward Alexis Shannon led the Evangels with a double-double, scoring 18 points and ripping down a team-high 13 rebounds while Lexi Hernandez added 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 3-for-5 from three.

The Evangels opened the game strong as Aaliyah Endsley buried a three from the top of the key and Rachel Tapps split the defenders for a tough right-handed layup with 7:03 to go to make it a 5-0 game.

SAGU rallied back with five unanswered to tie, but a pair of Hernandez free throws and a layup by Ossyana Ozoani built the Evangels lead back to four at 9-5 with 5:01 remaining in the period.

MACU maintained its four-point advantage until a Kiara Glenn three from the left corner with 2:30 left started an 8-0 run, finished off on a Sydney Meador three to make it 18-14 with 1:16 on the clock.

However, Shannon was able to swing momentum back in MACU's favor before the end of the quarter with a step-back three from the top of the key with 47 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 18-17 after one period of play.

The Shannon triple was the start of a string of nine unanswered for the Evangels as MACU opened the second quarter with a pair of three-point plays by Shannon and Loralei Siliga to jump out in-front 23-18 just 51 seconds into the quarter.

The Evangels held a five-point edge over the next four minutes, but Hernandez knocked down a long range fastbreak three-pointer from the left wing followed by a pair of Shannon free throws to give MACU its largest lead of the half at 32-22 with 4:48 to go.

The Lady Lions slowly clawed their way back until a Lexi Rich layup with 23 seconds left cut the Evangels' edge to 36-33, but MACU was able to get the last response of the period.

With three seconds left, Shannon was fouled, but she missed a pair of free throws, setting up an Ozoani offensive rebound. Ozoani was fouled going back up for her shot with one second left and she buried the two free throws to send MACU into the locker room with the 38-33 edge.

Mid-America Christian managed to outshoot SAGU after knocking down 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) while going 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) from three and 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the charity stripe. The Evangels meanwhile held the Lady Lions to just 12-for-36 (33.3 percent) from the field and 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) from the three-point arc.

Southwestern Assemblies of God slowly fought its way back to make it a one-point game at 55-54 with 3:16 to go in the third quarter, but the Evangels caught fire in the final three minutes.

With Siliga knocking down a layup with 2:11 to go, MACU scored on three straight possessions as Shannon and Anna Kash converted three-point plays on back-to-back possessions to stretch the lead to nine before a couple more Evangels free throws made it 65-54 at the end of three.

The Lady Lions scored the first two buckets of the final period before Kash buried a three with 7:57 left to push the lead back to 68-58.

The Evangels went ice cold over the next three minutes as SAGU was able to whittle the MACU edge down to three, but Hernandez was able to stop the run with a crucial three-pointer from the right corner to briefly push MACU's advantage to 71-65 with 5:32 to go.

A SAGU layup by Kiara Glenn briefly brought the MACU advantage down to four, but Hernandez splashed another long three from the right wing, bringing the Evangels' edge to 74-67 with 4:08 left.

That would the Evangels' last score of the ball game as the Lady Lions scored the final nine points over the last 3:34.

With the game all locked up at 74-all. Rich was able to make a tough contested layup on the left side with 22 seconds left to notch the game-winning score.

Mid-America Christian could only muster 12-for-34 (35.3 percent) from the field in the second half and 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from beyond the three-point arc, while SAGU flipped the script by shooting 16-of-30 (53.3 percent) in the final 20 minutes, including 6-for-14 (42.9 percent) from three.

Endsley was the only other Evangel to crack double-figures with 12 points on 4-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. Tapps dished out a team-high four assists while Siliga finished with a team-high three steals on the defensive end.

Mid-America Christian will get an opportunity to right the ship at home as the Evangels will host Texas Wesleyan in a crucial SAC contest on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.