PARK CITY, Kan. – After being selected to the program's first ever NAIA National Championship Tournament, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team made a strong rally from 11 down with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but fell just short in its comeback effort against Columbia (Mo.), 85-83 on Friday night at the Hartman Center
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Anna Kash – 23 PTS, 9-16 FG, 4-5 3FG, 10 REB
• Aaliyah Endsley – 15 PTS, 4-9 FG, 7-7 FT, 4 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL
• Presley Payahsape – 15 PTS, 6-11 FG, 2-4 3FG, 4 REB, 3 AST
• Lexi Hernandez – 13 PTS, 5-10 FG, 2-6 3FG, 4 AST, 3 REB, 1 STL

GAME SUMMARY

• 1st Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian jumped out to a fast start out of the gate as a Presley Payahsape three-point bomb from the right wing on the Evangels' first possession allowed MACU to jump out to an early 10-4 lead, finished off on a Lexi Hernandez three-point play with 6:32 remaining.
  • The Evangels maintained a six-point cushion over the next few minutes before Columbia scored on back-to-back possessions to cut it to 12-10. Anna Kash briefly stopped the run by banking in a three-pointer from the right wing with 3:18 left.
  • After Ossyana Ozoani knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:29 to go to extend the MACU lead back to five, the Cougars ended the period with seven unanswered finished off on Sofia Popp's fastbreak layup with four seconds left to give CC the 19-17 edge heading into the second quarter.
• 2nd Quarter
  • The Evangels managed to keep it to within a couple of possessions over the first four minutes as a Kash three cut the deficit to 23-22.
  • CC's Clare Shetley buried a three from the top of the key to jumpstart a 9-0 Cougars run before Shetley knocked down another three to end it with 4:49 remaining to give Columbia its largest lead of the half at 32-22.
  • A Payahsape turnaround jumper and three-pointer allowed MACU to claw back to within five at 37-32 with 1:43 to go.
  • Both teams struggled to score over the final 80 seconds as neither team could convert a bucket. Aaliyah Endsley managed to trim the deficit back to five after converting a pair of free throws with four seconds left, but a costly foul on the inbound pass allowed CC's Abby Backes to knock down a pair of free throws retake a seven-point lead at 41-34 heading into the halftime break.
• 3rd Quarter
  • Endsley scored four quick points through the first 75 seconds to help MACU bring it to within six before CC's Geena Stephens countered with four of her own to extend the Cougars' lead to 48-38 with 8:03 left.
  • A pair of threes from Kash and Lexi Hernandez helped MACU trim the deficit to four at 48-44 with 6:01 remaining.
  • The Evangels managed to hold it two a two-possession deficit for the next few minutes, but the Cougars outscored MACU 10-5 over the final 3:52 to hold a 62-53 edge heading into the final period of play.
• 4^th Quarter
  • The Evangels defense was able to clamp down during the first two-and-a-half minutes of the fourth, opening the period with a 6-2 run finished off on an Endsley three-point play to close the gap to 64-59 with 7:54 on the clock.
  • Following a pair of Popp free throws, the Cougars managed to push their lead back to double-figures on another Shetley three-pointer to bring it to 69-59 with 6:35 to go.
  • Mid-America Christian managed to whittle the lead down to six before CC retaliated with five unanswered to take their largest lead of the game on a Bria Jones three to make it 75-64 with 4:46 left.
  • Anna Kash's three-pointer with 3:32 remaining brought it back to within single digits at 77-69.
  • In the final two minutes, the Evangels made their final push. Over a 22 second stretch, Mid-America Christian rattled off five unanswered behind a trio of free throws from Sydney Wycoff and a Payahsape pull-up jumper in the paint to cut the deficit to 79-76 with 1:15 left.
  • Payahsape came up with another big score just 15 seconds later on a fastbreak following CC converting one of two free throws as MACU pulled it to within two at 80-78.
  • The Cougars managed to pull it back to a two-possession lead before Hernandez buried a big three-pointer from the right wing to make it a one-point game at 82-81 with 10.6 seconds to go.
  • After Stephens knocked down a pair of free throws to push it back to a three-point lead, the Evangels opted to try and get a quick score on Ossyana Ozoani's lay-in with 1.2 seconds left.
  • Columbia knocked down one of two from the foul line to end the contest in an 85-83 final.

GAME NOTES

• The two teams were fairly even statistically across the board, as the Evangels outshot the Cougars 46.0-to-44.4 percent from the field 47.1-to-32.0 percent from three, but Columbia was able to take advantage of its opportunities from the foul line by making four and attempting eight more free throws than MACU.
• Mid-America Christian struggled to take care of the basketball, turning the ball over a season-high 19 times, but did force Columbia into committing 17 turnovers of its own.
• Sophomore guard Anna Kash had a career-day offensively, scoring her personal MACU best of 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting and went 4-for-5 from three-point range while turning in her first career double-double with 10 boards.
• In her final game with the Evangels, senior Aaliyah Endsley scored 15 points after going 4-for-9 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe to go with four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
• Junior forward Presley Payahsape also notched 15 points on 6-of-11 from the floor and 2-for-4 from three to go with four boards and three assists.
• Lexi Hernandez rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 2-for-6 from three while also recording four assists and three rebounds.
• With the loss, Mid-America Christian is eliminated from the NAIA Tournament, ending the 2020-21 season with a 9-3 overall record. The team's .750 season winning percentage is the program's highest since joining the NAIA in 2007.