LANGSTON, Okla. – In a must-win situation for the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team to host a Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament game, the Evangels went into Langston and spoiled the Lady Lions' senior day with an 87-74 victory at the C.F. Gayles Fieldhouse on Saturday.

By getting a win along with a Southwestern Christian loss at No. 5 Wayland Baptist, Mid-America Christian (20-10, 12-8 SAC) locked up the No. 4 seed in the SAC Tournament. The Evangels will host No. 5 Texas Wesleyan (18-10, 12-8 SAC) in the Quarterfinal round next week.

Senior forward Alexis Shannon led five Evangels into double-figures in the regular season finale, scoring 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting and 5-for-7 from the foul line to go with nine boards and two assists.

The two teams traded the lead five times through the first two minutes, but Shannon put the Evangels in-front for good with a three-point play with 7:52 to go in the first quarter to give MACU the 7-5 lead.

It was a momentum swinging play for MACU, springing an 11-2 run over the next 2:20 as Ossyana Ozoani's layup with 5:33 remaining brought the score to 15-7.

The Evangels built as large as a 10-point lead in the period off a pair of Ozoani free throws with with 1:48 to go following a Jessica Fairley three on the previous possession to make it a 24-14 game.

Langston (11-15, 7-13 SAC) rattled off the next five points to trim the deficit in half, but Rachel Tapps was able to knock down a free throw in the final minute to give the Evangels a 25-19 lead heading into the second quarter.

LU's Alexandra Baker knocked down a three right out of the break to briefly cut MACU's edge down to three, but Fairley swung the momentum back in the Evangels favor with a triple of her own on the ensuing possession.

The three ignited a 15-2 MACU run over the next 3:48, capped off on a Shannon lay-in with 5:42 to go until the half to extend the Evangels advantage to 39-24.

MACU stretched its lead to as much as 19 on an Anna Kash three-pointer with 1:55 left to bring the score to 51-32 prior to the Evangels heading into the half with a 52-35 lead.

Mid-America Christian shot 18-for-40 (45 percent) from the field in the first half, despite only knocking down 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) from three, but shot an efficient 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the charity stripe. Langston shot 14-for-35 (40 percent) from the floor and 4-for-8 (50 percent) from three, but did a good job of keeping the Lady Lions off the free throw line, going just 3-for-7 (42.9 percent) on their freebies.

The Evangels got off to a strong start to the third period as Aaliyah Endsley knocked down a shot clock beating layup on the first possession of the quarter while Shannon got an offensive rebound and putback on the following possession to make it a 56-37 game with 9:09 remaining.

However, Langston's Asheika Alexander helped the Lady Lions start a 10-2 run with a fastbreak layup at the 8:13 mark, while Grace Williams' three-pointer with 5:03 on the clock shrank the MACU edge to 58-48.

Layups by Endsley on back-to-back possessions helped stem the tide as Langston could not cut the MACU lead below double-digits as the Evangels held a 66-54 lead at the end of three.

After forcing a turnover on Langston's first possession of the final quarter, Fairley knocked down a big three on MACU's first try, making it a 69-54 ballgame with 9:32 on the clock.

A Kaylee Mitchell score briefly brought the Evangels' edge down to 13, but MACU countered with a pair of Tapps free throws and an Ozoani jumper with 6:25 remaining to give the Evangels their largest lead of the quarter at 73-56.

The Lady Lions could not muster a run against the Evangels the rest of the way as LU could only shrink the MACU advantage to as little as 11 at 85-74 with 18 seconds remaining before Tapps knocked down a pair of free throws to end the game.

While Mid-America Christian struggled offensively in the second half, converting on just 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) of its shots and 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from three, the Evangels continued to get the job done from the foul line. MACU knocked down 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) in the second half as well from the charity stripe to finish 22-for-30 overall.

Langston was slightly sharper offensively by making 16-for-33 (48.5 percent) in the second half, the Lady Lions also struggled from behind the arc, going 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) while being held to just 5-for-6 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe.

Joining Shannon in double-figures was Endsley with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five rebounds and a team-high five assists while Fairley chipped in 14 off the MACU bench on 4-for-9 from three-point range to go with three steals.

Ozoani was one of two Evangels to record a double-double, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with a team-high 11 rebounds and four steals. Despite struggling from the floor, Tapps poured in 10 points by going 8-for-11 from the free throw line to go with 10 rebounds, six of which were on the offensive glass.

Mid-America Christian's Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal matchup with Texas Wesleyan will be played on Tuesday, Mar. 3 with a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.