BETHANY, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team bounced back in a big way to wrap up the 2021 portion of the season as the Evangels efficiently knocked down the three-ball in a 69-47 road victory at Southwestern Christian inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Anna Kash – 23 Points, 8-20 FG, 7-13 3FG, 4 Reb, 4 Assists
• Lexi Hernandez – 17 Points, 6-12 FG, 3-8 3FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Assists, 3 Reb, 3 Steals
• Ossyana Ozoani – 10 Points, 4-7 FG, 2-2 FT, 13 Reb

 
GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian opened the game with a bang as Anna Kash buried a pair of three over the first 2:23 to jump out to a 6-0 lead.
  • Southwestern Christian countered by scoring five of the next seven, but the Evangels responded with a seven-unanswered run behind another Kash three, a Lexi Hernandez turn-around jumper and a pair of Ossyana Ozoani free throws with 3:33 to go to extend it to a 15-5 advantage.
  • Another Hernandez jumper pushed the Evangels edge back out to 10 with 1:32 to go, but MACU struggled to score the rest of the way as the Eagles clawed it back to a 20-13 game before the break.
• Second Quarter
  • After a Kirstyn Strain free throw briefly closed the gap to six, Hernandez drained a three before Aneli Thomsen converted a fastbreak layup to extend it back to a double-figure lead at 25-14 with 8:27 to go.
  • A Thamires Andrade bucket briefly knocked the MACU advantage to single-digits, but a Kyleigh Leverich three from the left wing ignited a 9-0 streak as scores from Kash, Hernandez and Ozoani extended it to a 36-18 edge with 4:31 remaining.
  • Southwestern Christian rattled off five in a row before the Evangels finished off the half with pair of three-pointers from Leverich and Hernandez in the final minute to make it 42-23 at the half.
• Third Quarter
  • Both offenses struggled to start the second half as Andrade's layup with 7:39 left marked the first score of the third period.
  • Kash drained a three on the ensuing possession to start an 8-1 surge, as Ozoani converted a layup off an offensive board before Kash ended the run with her sixth three-pointer to stretch the advantage 50-26 with 5:50 on the clock.
  • Southwestern Christian was able to counter several MACU buckets from the foul line over the next five minutes, but Kash buried her seventh three of the game with 46 seconds to go to bring the MACU edge to 60-34 after three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Both offenses once again struggled to score through the first four minutes of the final period, but a pair of threes from Presley Payahsape and Hernandez gave MACU its largest lead of the contest at 66-36 with 5:22 remaining.
  • Southwestern Christian scored seven in a row before Sydney Savage got the running layup to go, drawing the foul and finishing the three-point play to cap the MACU scoring at 69-43 with 1:27 left.
  • The Eagles scored the final four points to close out the 69-47 final.

GAME NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian struggled from the floor, knocking down 25-for-69 (36.2 percent) from the field, the Evangels were effectively able to convert on 34.1 percent of their three-point attempts (14-of-41). MACU was stifling on the defensive end of the floor, holding SCU to only 16-for-57 (28.1 percent) shooting and 4-of-26 (15.4 percent) from three.
• MACU dominated the glass, outrebounding SCU 49-25 but the Eagles did win the turnover battle by committing 12 while the Evangels made 17 miscues.
• Anna Kash led Mid-America Christian offensively with a season-high 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting, going 7-for-13 from beyond the three-point arc while tying a team-high four assists with four rebounds. The seven made threes sits in a seven-way tie for the fourth-most made in a single game in the program's NAIA record book, also matching teammate McKenzi Lamer who recorded seven triples twice last season.
• Lexi Hernandez provided a spark off the MACU bench with 17 points on 6-of-12 from the field and 3-for-8 from beyond the arc to go with a pair of free throws. The Canyon, Texas native also finished with four assists and three steals to go with three boards.
• Ossyana Ozoani recorded her fourth straight double-double, tallying 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to go with a team-high 13 rebounds.
• Sydney Wycoff provided a spark for the Evangels despite struggling offensively, as she notched eight rebounds and four assists with her five points while Kyleigh Leverich chipped in six points, seven rebounds and three steals.
• Mid-America Christian has now won five of its last six against Southwestern Christian and avenged an 86-75 overtime loss at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium when the two teams last met on Feb. 22.
• With the win, the Evangels improved to 10-2 on the season and leapt back above .500 in SAC play at 3-2 while Southwestern Christian fell to 5-5 and 1-4 in league play.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be off for an extended break as the Evangels will return to action for a New Year's Day matchup against Southwestern Assemblies of God. The game will tip-off on Saturday, Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.