OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team put together a stellar second half, outscoring Bethel 50-23 to come away with an 86-47 win in its first game of its host event, the MACU Classic inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Friday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Ossyana Ozoani – 17 Points, 7-13 FG, 3-4 FT, 8 Reb, 1 Block, 1 Steal
• Presley Payahsape – 12 Points, 5-7 FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Reb
• McKenzi Lamer – 11 Points, 4-6 FG, 3-4 3FG, 2 Assists, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm through the first four minutes of the first half as an Ossyana Ozoani layup made it a 6-4 Evangels lead before Bethel countered with Sydney Tenant layup and a Zayda Perez three to give the Threshers the 9-6 edge with 4:46 to go.
  • The MACU defense clamped down over the next three minutes, not allowing a single BC score. Ozoani sparked a big run with a baseline jumper off an inbound and a layup in the paint before a three by Abby Bird and layups from Sydney Wycoff and Kyleigh Leverich gave MACU the 17-9 advantage with 2:31 remaining.
  • A Troi Lucas fastbreak layup briefly broke up the Evangels run, but MACU was able to close out the period with a pair of layups from Aneli Thomsen end the quarter at 21-11.
• Second Quarter
  • Bethel was able to bring the game back to single digits within the first few minutes as the Threshers scored five of the first eight points to make it a 24-16 contest with 7:31 left.
  • Nearing the midway point of the quarter, an Ozoani layup spurred a 7-2 MACU spurt as she also knocked down a pair of free throws to expand the Evangels' lead to 31-18 with 3:58 on the clock.
  • The Threshers tallied six unanswered to close the gap to seven, but MACU closed out the half strong with Ozoani scoring four of Evangels' last five point to push the advantage back out to double-figures at 36-24 at the half.
• Third Quarter
  • After both teams opened the game in a defensive slugfest, Mid-America Christian was able to get into an offensive rhythm to start the second half. The Evangels scored on six of their first seven possessions and continued to clap down defensively to force an 11-0 run. Payahsape scored six of MACU's 11 points during the stretch and Lexi Hernandez laid in a fastbreak layup to make it a 47-24 contest with 6:43 left.
  • Bethel was unable to shrink the deficit to under 20 the rest of the way as MACU managed another 6-1 streak in the middle of the quarter to expand its edge to 57-31 on a Payahsape layup with 3:17 to go.
  • The Threshers could only minimally cut into the MACU lead before McKenzi Lamer drained a three on the Evangels' final possession of the period to push it back out to 62-36.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Bethel's Alex Bearup knocked down a couple of early threes to pull it back to 64-42 before the Evangels countered with eight unanswered of their own behind a pair of threes from Lamer and Sydney Wycoff to go with a Sydney Savage layup to stretch it back to a 72-42 advantage with 6:42 left.
  • Following a Jaycee Freshour lay-in, Jade Millan scored the first five during an 11-0 run that was capped off on a Savage layup to bring it to 83-44 with just under a minute left.
  • A Lamer three with 39 seconds left gave the Evangels their largest lead of the match at 86-46 before eventually closing out the 86-47 win.

GAME NOTES

• As a team, Mid-America Christian knocked down 35-for-68 (51.5 percent), shooting a blistering 64.5 percent in the second half. After going 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half, the Evangels knocked down 6-for-9 (66.7 percent) from three over the final 20 minutes.
• Defensively, MACU held the Threshers to just 15-for-58 (25.9 percent) from the floor and 4-of-28 (14.3 percent) from the arc. The Evangels also dominated Bethel on the glass, outrebounding the Threshers 54-31.
• Senior forward Ossyana Ozoani scored a season-high 17 points on 7-for-13 from the field and finished with a game-high eight rebounds.
• Four Evangels broke into double-figures with Presley Payahsape dropping 12 points with McKenzi Lamer and Abby Bird coming in off the bench to add 11 and 10 respectively.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will close out the MACU Classic on Saturday as the Evangels will take on Cottey College for a 2 p.m. tip-off.