OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team will advance to the Sooner Athletic Conference Semifinal after taking down fifth-seeded Texas Wesleyan 80-75 on Tuesday night at the Gaulke Activity Center in the quarterfinal round.

Senior forward Alexis Shannon led the Evangels with 28 points, knocking down 10-of-17 from the field and 7-for-9 from the foul line to go with seven rebounds. Junior guard Lexi Hernandez snapped out of a slump in a big way, record 14 of her 22 points in the second half on 8-for-14 shooting, including going 3-for-7 from three and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.

Mid-America Christian (21-10) will be moving on to the SAC Semifinal, hosted by Wayland Baptist at the Hutcherson Center in Plainview, Texas. The Evangels will take on the top-seed and No. 1 team Oklahoma City on Friday and if the Evangels can squeeze out an upset, would compete in the SAC Championship game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

It is the fifth-time MACU has ever advanced to the SAC's final four and the first time since the 2016-17 campaign when the Evangels defeated this very same Lady Rams team 75-68 on Feb. 28, 2017 inside the Gaulke Activity Center.

Mid-America Christian (21-10) came out on-fire to start out the first quarter, scoring the first 14 points while holding Texas Wesleyan (17-11) to without a score until the 4:55 mark. Shannon and Rachel Tapps combined to score nine of MACU's points during the powerful run.

The Lady Rams were able to slow MACU down in the last half of the second period, limiting the Evangels to just two points in the final 4:02 while stringing together a 9-2 run to close the gap to 18-11 after one.

The momentum carried over for TWU in the second quarter, as the Lady Rams outscored MACU 14-8 to reduce the MACU edge to one after Nicole Gleason finished off a three-point play to bring the score to 26-25.

The two teams were locked in a defensive stalemate over the next 1:42 until Aaliyah Endsley was able to find Shannon open in the right corner and she knocked down the three to push the Evangels lead back to four. Moments later, Ossyana Ozoani added to it with a strong layup off a Tapps inbound pass to make it a 31-25 MACU lead with 2:27 remaining.

The two teams traded blows over the next two-plus minutes as the Lady Rams cut the Evangels advantage to four with 50 seconds remaining, but Hernandez put MACU up by seven at the break by swishing a three from the left side off a strong pass from the top of the key by Jessica Fairley, bringing it to 36-29 at the half.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first 20 minutes of action, as Mid-America Christian could only muster 14-for-36 (38.9 percent) from the field and 3-for-13 (23.1 percent) from three, but managed to knock down 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Texas Wesleyan shot just 12-of-38 (31.6 percent) and 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from downtown.

The Lady Rams once again started out the third period with all of the momentum, rattling off the first six points to cut the MACU lead to 36-35 through the first 1:19.

With 7:16 to go in the quarter, Shannon ignited the Evangels offense as she finished off a three-point play to start a 9-2 run that was finished off on an Ozoani steal and fastbreak layup to stretch the MACU edge back to 45-37.

Mid-America Christian built its lead back out to as much as nine with 4:02 remaining when Fairley drained a three from the right corner off a Sydney Wycoff dish, making it a 50-41 game.

Texas Wesleyan clawed its way back by scoring the next six to bring the score to 50-47, but Fairley made a free throw with 49 seconds left before getting a buzzer beating layup off a long Tapps outlet to extend the edge to 53-47 heading into the fourth quarter.

Early on in the fourth quarter, Hernandez pushed the MACU lead out to 11 at 58-47 with a long three-point bomb from the right wing with 9:46 to go.

The Lady Rams made two strong surges to get back within the game, scoring 10 of the next 13 to cut the MACU advantage to 61-57 with 6:38 remaining.

The Evangels once again extended it to a three-possession game over the next three minutes as a strong Hernandez take to the basket and lay-in gave MACU a nine-point lead with 3:03 to go, but another six unanswered run by the Lady Rams brought the score to 71-68 with 2:04 on the clock.

Hernandez came up clutch for MACU down the stretch, converting another strong layup with 1:48 to go before the Evangels forced a crucial Texas Wesleyan turnover. Hernandez was fouled on the ensuing Evangels possession and she calmly knocked down both free throws with 1:27 left to increase the MACU lead to 75-68.

Mid-America Christian didn't allow the lead to drop to below five the rest of the way as the Evangels held on for an 80-75 victory.

The Evangels were sharper from the floor in the second half, shooting 14-for-31 (45.2 percent), but still just 3-for-9 (33.3 percent) from three while knocking down 13-for-19 (68.4 percent) from the foul line. The Lady Rams shot 16-for-44 (36.4 percent) from the field and 2-for-11 from three, but managed to stick around by outrebounding the Evangels 29-17 in the second half.

Tapps finished just a point shy of recording her third-straight double-double, tallying nine points with 10 rebounds, a team-high four assists and two steals while Loralei Siliga also finished with 10 boards.

Mid-America Christian will play Oklahoma City in the first SAC Semifinal matchup of the day on Friday, with the tip-off slated for 1 p.m.