OKLAHOMA CITY – After not being able to compete for 10 days, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball struggled offensively in its return to the court as the second-seeded Evangels were upset by No. 7 seed Langston 75-66 in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal at the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday night.
 

STAT LEADERS

• Ossyana Ozoani – 18 PTS, 6-11 FG, 6-7 FT, 11 REB, 2 BLK
• Anna Kash – 13 PTS, 4-4 FT, 7 REB, 3 STL, 1 AST
• Presley Payahsape – 10 PTS, 6 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STL

GAME SUMMARY

• 1^st Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (9-2) held the advantage throughout the entirety of the first quarter, but never led by more than a couple of possessions.
  • The Evangels managed to close out the period by scoring four of the final five points in the last 1:14 as an Aneli Thomsen layup and a pair of Lexi Hernandez free throws allowed MACU to hold a 13-9 edge after one.
• 2^nd Quarter
  • The Evangels were able to get into a rhythm early, opening the period with seven unanswered through the first 2:20, six of the points coming from Thomsen as MACU extended their lead to 20-9 with 7:40 to go.
  • Langston (7-6) slowly clawed its way back, eventually closing the gap to 30-26 on a Grace Williams three-pointer with 2:16 left.
  • MACU rattled off six straight, building its advantage back to 10 at with six seconds left on an Anna Kash layup, but the Lions captured the momentum heading into the locker room as LU's Jailynn Lawson hit a running 40-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to close the gap to 34-27 at the break.
• 3^rd Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian managed to score seven of the first nine points to take its largest lead of the game on a Presley Payahsape free throw with 7:59 remaining to bring it to a 43-31 game.
  • The Lions strapped in defensively for the next six minutes as Langston strung together a 17-4 run to take its first lead of the game before McKenzi Lamer knocked down a lay-in with 1:07 left to close the gap to 51-49.
  • Langston's Adia Rogers scored the only points in the last minute as Langston held a 53-49 edge going into the fourth.
• 4^th Quarter
  • After the Lions scored the first bucket of the period, the Evangels cut it down to two at 55-53 with 7:48 left on layups from Payahsape and Ozoani on back-to-back possessions.
  • Langston managed to push its lead back out to seven on an Asheika Alexander three and fastbreak layup, but MACU once again fought back to close it to within three on a pair of Ozoani free throws and a Payahsape jumper to set the score to 60-57 with 5:26 to go.
  • The Lions once again extended their edge out to seven as the Evangels offense struggled to score over the next few minutes before Payahsape buried a three with 2:58 on the clock to bring the deficit back down to four at 64-60.
  • LU rattled off five unanswered and once again held the Evangels scoreless over a 2:09 stretch before Ozoani got a lay-in to pull it to within seven at 69-62 with 49 seconds left.
  • Mid-America Christian briefly got it back to within five on a pair of scores from Ozoani and Hernandez, but Langston was able to ice the game away from the foul line to come away the 75-66 win.

 

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian had its worst shooting performance of the season, knocking down just 21-for-69 (30.4 percent) from the field and 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from the three-point arc. Langston finished the contest by shooting 25-for-61 (41 percent), including 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) from range while also converting an efficient 20-of-27 (74.1 percent) from the foul line.
• The one highlight for the Evangels defense was that they were able to force the Lions into committing 22 turnovers to just 15 of their own, but LU won the rebounding battle by a 47-44 edge.
• Ossyana Ozoani continued to be a bright spot for the Evangels offensively and on the glass as she notched her first double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds to go with a pair of blocked shots.
• The defeat came just 11 days after the Evangels came away with an emphatic 109-78 victory at Langston back on Feb. 12. It was only the second time Mid-America Christian lost to the Lions and the first time since LU joined the Sooner Athletic Conference prior to the 2018-19 season.

 
NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will now play the waiting game to see whether it will be competing in the NAIA or NCCAA postseason tournaments. The Evangels will be hoping to be selected to their first ever NAIA National Championship Tournament as the selection show will take place on the NAIA's social media platforms on Mar. 4 at 6 p.m.