OKLAHOMA CITY – It was a night to remember for Alexis Shannon. The senior forward scored a career-high 33 points to surpass Christina Schmidt as the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team's second all-time leading scorer at 1658, leading the Evangels to a 99-50 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State Thursday night at the Gaulke Activity Center.
Shannon scored 20 of her 33 points in the second half as the senior forward shot 14-for-21 from the floor, knocked down a pair of threes and buried 3-of-4 from the foul line to go with a team-high eight boards and four assists.
Mid-America Christian (17-6, 9-4 Sooner Athletic Conference) only allowed Oklahoma Panhandle State (5-17, 0-13 SAC) to hang around for two minutes before turning on the after burners. Following a Cassia McCaskill three that cut the Evangels' edge to 6-5, Lexi Hernandez made a beautiful spin move in the paint and floated a jumper to start a string of 12 unanswered.
Rachel Tapps ended the run nearly four minutes later when Shannon found the senior guard camped out in the left corner off some great ball movement and she drained the three to bring the advantage to 18-5 with 4:52 to go.
The Evangels never led by less than 11 for the remainder of the game, as MACU went on a 7-0 run late in the period to push the lead to 18 before OPSU's Vanessa Gonzalez knocked down a three just before the buzzer to make it 27-12 after one quarter of play.
The two teams were locked in a stalemate over the first seven minutes of the second quarter, but after an OPSU three-pointer set the score to 41-28 with 2:46 to go, the Evangels streaked away by scoring the final nine points of the half. Tapps capped off the run on a triple from the left side off a nice Sydney Wycoff dish just before the buzzer to send MACU into the break with a 50-28 advantage.
Mid-America Christian shot a blazing 19-for-34 (55.9 percent) in the first 20 minutes of regulation, including going 5-for-11 (45.5 percent) from three and 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) from the foul line. Meanwhile, the Aggies could only muster 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) against the Evangels defense, including 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) from the three-point arc.
The third quarter was dominated by Shannon. The Noblesville, Ind. native scored 18 of MACU's 27 points in the period, but saved the best for last when Anna Kash dished it to her on the left wing and rattled in a long contested three with just three seconds left to send the Evangels into the final quarter with a 78-38 edge. The triple was a big one for Shannon as it brought her into a tie with Schmidt for second on MACU's all-time scoring list.
It didn't take long for Shannon to claim the spot outright by knocking down a tightly contested fastbreak layup with 9:15 on the clock to make it an 81-40 game.
The Evangels cruised the rest of the way, outscoring the Aggies 20-12 in the final 10 minutes to seal the 99-50 victory.
MACU's shooting performance only got better in the second half, knocking down 19-for-32 (59.4 percent) to finish 38-of-64 (57.6 percent) for the contest and by splashing 5-of-10 from three in the second half, finished 10-for-21 (47. 6 percent) from three. Mid-America Christian's defense was just as dominant, liming OPSU to just 30.3 percent shooting for the game and 21.9 percent from three-point land.
Four other joined Shannon in double-figures scoring, as Tapps tied her season-high of 12 points on 4-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from three. Tapps also dished out a team-high six assists to go with three steals. Hernandez added 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting while tallying three thefts and junior guard Aaliyah Endsley added 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting and 2-for-3 from three with seven rebounds and four assists.
Kash rounded out all the double-digit scorers with 10 points off the MACU bench on 4-of-10 shooting along with three assists and a pair of steals.
With the win, Mid-America Christian moves into third outright in the Sooner Athletic Conference after No. 5 Wayland Baptist picked up a road win at Science & Arts and Texas Wesleyan was upset by Southwestern Christian on Thursday night.
The Evangels will get a golden opportunity at springing a major upset on Saturday as MACU will host No. 5 Wayland Baptist for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
