GOODWELL, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team carried its stellar defensive play into Sooner Athletic Conference play on Thursday night as the Evangels came away with a 76-49 victory at Anchor D Arena.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Presley Payahsape – 14 Points, 5-13 FG, 3-3 FT, 6 Reb, 3 Assists
• Abby Bird – 11 Points, 5-8 FG, 4 Reb, 2 Assists
• Ossyana Ozoani – 10 Points, 5-9 FG, 7 Reb, 2 Steals
• Lexi Hernandez – 9 Points, 4-8 FG, 5 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • While Ossyana Ozoani scored the game's first points on the opening possession, both teams struggled offensively as MACU held a slim 4-0 edge before the Aggies scored their first points on a Tateum Jones layup with 7:24 to go.
  • An Ozoani layup ignited a 9-3 Evangels run as MACU extended its edge to 13-9 on an Abby Bird free throw with 4:45 left.
  • A Vanessa Gonzalez three-pointer was quickly countered by a Lexi Hernandez triple, but Oklahoma Panhandle State managed to eventually knock the MACU lead down to four at 19-15 on a Cassia McCaskill three with 56 seconds remaining.
  • McKenzi Lamer was fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession to allow MACU to hold a 21-15 cushion after one quarter of play.
• Second Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian got off to an overwhelming start defensively as MACU scored the first 12 points over a seven-plus minute stretch. Bird and Ozoani combined to score eight of the Evangels' points during the run while the defense forced an 0-for-7 OPSU shooting slump.
  • Kaylee Hurst's free throw with 3:05 left ended the run as Briana Marquez notched the Aggies' lone score of the period on a three with 2:51 to go.
  • MACU scored seven points to close out the quarter, getting scores from Ozoani and Lamer before Kaylee Hurst laid in the final bucket to send the Evangels into the half with a commanding 40-18 advantage.
• Third Quarter
  • The Evangels pushed their lead out to 30 through the first five minutes of the second half. Sydney Wycoff steal and fastbreak layup started a 12-4 spurt. Anna Kash buried a pair of threes between a Hernandez layup to swell the lead to 52-22 with 5:26 remaining.
  • Panhandle State managed to capture some momentum over the next four minutes as OPSU scored 11 of the next 16, but a pair of Payahsape free throws allowed MACU to take a 59-33 advantage into the final quarter.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian scored six of the first nine behind a pair of layups from Bird and Payahsape before Aneli Thomsen knocked down a pair of free throws with 8:49 on the clock to make it 65-36.
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State could only knock the Evangels' edge down to as few as 24 the rest of the way with the Aggies final score coming with 1:36 left on a McCaskill lay-in to bring it to 73-49.
  • Lamer poured in MACU's final three points on a layup and a free throw to secure the 76-49 victory.

GAME NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian struggled from behind the arc, knocking down just 4-for-17 (23.5 percent), the Evangels were effectively able to convert on 25-for-49 (51 percent) of their two-point attempts to finish 29-of-66 (43.9 percent) for the contest.
• The Evangels held their fourth straight opponent to under 40-percent shooting as Oklahoma Panhandle State could only muster 19-for-59 (32.2 percent) from the field and 7-for-23 (30.4 percent) from the three-point arc.
• MACU did a stellar job of keeping the Aggies from getting to the foul line, as OPSU could only convert on 4-for-8 while MACU went 14-for-20 (70 percent) from the charity stripe. The eight free throw attempts were the second-fewest the Evangels allowed the opposition to take all season.
• Mid-America Christian was once again extremely balanced on the offensive end with six players scoring at least eight points and 11 different players scoring in the contest. Presley Payahsape led in the scoring column with 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting to go with six board and tied a team-high three assists.
• Abby Bird chipped in 11 points off the MACU bench on 5-of-8 from the field while Ossyana Ozoani once again led MACU on the glass with 10 points and seven rebounds. McKenzi Lamer also poured in 10 points in just 13 minutes off the Evangels bench.
• Mid-America Christian is off to its first ever 8-0 start since the program joined the NAIA in 2007. Meanwhile, the Aggies fell to 2-1 following the completion of the SAC opener.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be preparing for its toughest contest of the season on Saturday as the Evangels will head to Plainview, Texas to take on No. 3 Wayland Baptist. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. inside the Hutcherson Center.