CHICKASHA, Okla. – In a battle of two undefeated teams in Sooner Athletic Conference play, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team came up with some clutch defensive plays down the stretch to pull away with a 79-74 upset victory over Science & Arts inside the USAO Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.
 

STAT LEADERS

• Presley Payahsape – 25 PTS, 11-27 FG, 1 AST, 1 STL
• Lexi Hernandez – 18 PTS, 6-12 FG, 2-5 3 FG, 4-4 FT, 6 REB, 4 STL
• Ossyana Ozoani – 9 PTS, 4-8 FG, 15 REB, 2 STL
• Kyleigh Leverich – 4 PTS, 5 AST

 

GAME SUMMARY

• 1^st Quarter
  • The two teams exchanged leads four times through the first three minutes, but sophomore guard Anna Kash knocked down a three to go along with a pair of free throws and Presley Payahsape added a jumper to give Mid-America Christian (6-1, 3-0 SAC) the 10-4 lead.
  • The Drovers stormed back, cutting their deficit to one on Kaitlyn Johnson's score before Nahemiah Johnson's bucket put Science & Arts (8-3, 5-1 SAC) back in-front 14-13 with 2:49 left.
  • On the ensuing possession, Payahsape drained a three to give the edge back to the Evangels before getting another jumper to fall with 2:07 left to push the MACU advantage back out to 18-14.
  • USAO's Riley Miller knocked down a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left to tie it up and the Evangels were unable to come away with a score on their final possession to head into the second period in an 18-all deadlock.
• 2^nd Quarter
  • Science & Arts was able to maintain a slim advantage through the first five minutes of the second quarter, but never leading by more than one possession before Lexi Hernandez buried a long range fastbreak three-pointer from the left wing to put the Evangels back ahead by a score of 28-25 with 4:43 remaining.
  • USAO's Zaria Dorsey managed to cut the MACU edge to one on the following possession, but the Evangels quickly responded on a pair of scores from Payahsape and Hernandez to swell the lead to 32-27 with 3:11 left.
  • The Drovers managed to trim the deficit to two at 34-32 on a Tori James three with 1:47 on the clock.
  • Mid-America Christian closed out the half with a 6-2 run that was capped off on a Payahsape left-handed layup just before the halftime buzzer to give the Evangels a 40-34 edge at the halftime break.
• 3^rd Quarter
  • The Drovers opened the second half with a seven unanswered run to take a 41-40 lead on Milagros Carreira's three-pointer, but Hernandez managed to stop the bleeding with a three-pointer of her own from the right wing off a Kyleigh Leverich kick-out to retake a 43-41 lead with 7:23 to go.
  • With the Evangels leading by two, USAO strung together a 9-2 run during the midway point of the quarter to take its largest lead of the game at 52-47 with 4:17 left.
  • Mid-America Christian answered right back with eight straight of their own behind two Payahsape threes and a Sydney Wycoff layup to reclaim a 55-52 advantage at the 3:10 mark.
  • Both defenses were stringent down the stretch, playing to a 57-all tie until USAO's Alex Miller hit a three with seven seconds left to give the Drovers the lead heading into the final period.
• 4^th Quarter
  • After Miller knocked down a free throw four seconds in to push the USAO lead to four, MACU rattled off 9-1 run off of buckets from Payahsape, Aneli Thomsen and Ossyana Ozoani before Leverich capped it with a three-pointer from the left wing to make 66-62 in favor of the Evangels with 7:27 to go.
  • The Drovers star forward Zaria Dorsey helped tie the game back up with a pair of free throws and a jumper to make 66-all, but Mid-America Christian once again had the answer on two more field goals from Payahsape to go with an Ozoani free throw to push the lead back out to five with 5:27 remaining.
  • Science & Arts refused to go away, cutting its deficit down to one on a pair of occasions before taking the lead back the on Dorsey's layup to make it 74-73 Drovers with 1:47 left to play.
  • On MACU's ensuing possession, Ozoani came up clutch with a scoop shot layup of her own to swing the momentum back on MACU's side at 75-74 with 1:25 on the clock.
  • In the final 27 seconds, Hernandez shined when she came up with a big defensive rebound, forcing the Drovers to call a timeout with 17 seconds left. After getting fouled, Leverich knocked down one of two free throws to extend the MACU edge to 76-74.
  • Following another Drovers timeout, Hernandez came up with a steal on the inbound pass and Anna Kash was then fouled, knocking down 1-of-2 free throws to make it a 77-74 game.
  • With USAO having one last chance to tie the game with 10 seconds left, Hernandez once again picked off the inbound pass coming out of a timeout and was fouled, sinking a pair of clutch free throws to secure the 79-74 victory.

 

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian outshot Science & Arts in its own building, as the Evangels finished 29-for-70 (41.4 percent) from the field, 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) from three and knocked down 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the foul line while limiting the Drovers to 26-of-68 (38.2 percent) shooting and 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) from three.
• The Drovers won the rebounding battle by a 43-37 margin, but the Evangels defense forced USAO into committing 19 turnovers while limiting their own to just 13 for the contest.
• The Evangels won their second straight game in the USAO Fieldhouse and have taken three of the last four in the venue since the 2017-18 season.
• By getting the win, Mid-America Christian remained as one of only three unbeaten teams in Sooner Athletic Conference play, sticking with No. 3 Wayland Baptist (6-0, 4-0 SAC) and No. 5 Oklahoma City (2-0, 1-0 SAC).
• Presley Payahsape put together her second consecutive 20-plus point game for MACU, leading the way with 25 points on 11-for-27 shooting and went 3-for-9 from the three-point arc.
• Lexi Hernandez continued to be a dominant force on the offensive and defensive ends, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-12 from the floor, 2-for-5 from three and 4-for-4 from the foul line to go with six rebounds and four steals, two of which coming in the final 14 seconds.
• Even though the Evangels were outrebounded as a team, senior forward Ossyana Ozoani ripped down a career-high 15 rebounds to go with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting to go with a pair of steals.
• Kyleigh Leverich finished with team-high five assists coming off the MACU bench.

 

NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will return to the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night to face John Brown competing in its season-opener. The game is slated for a 6 p.m. start.