OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team kept the momentum rolling inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday as the Evangels rolled to an 83-45 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State to pick up the team's 10^th straight win.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Ossyana Ozoani – 19 Points, 5-11 FG, 9-11 FT, 9 Reb
• Abby Bird – 10 Points, 3-6 FG, 3-5 FT, 6 Reb, 2 Steals
• Anna Kash – 10 Points, 3-4 FG, 2-2 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • The Evangels got off to a strong start with Ossyana Ozoani getting a pair of layups off two tremendous passes from Lexi Hernandez and Sydney Wycoff to make it a 4-0 MACU advantage 1:05 into the period.
  • A pair of Oklahoma Panhandle State three-pointers by Briana Marquez and Tateum Jones started a 17-6 Aggies run capped off on a three by Cassia McCaskill to give OPSU its largest lead of the contest at 17-10 with 2:20 left.
  • On the ensuing possession, McKenzi Lamer drained a long range three from the left wing to ignite a nine-unanswered as a Wycoff layup, an Anna Kash three and an Abby Bird free throw sent the Evangels into the second quarter with the 19-17 advantage.
• Second Quarter
  • OPSU's Bianca Camello buried a jumper buried a jumper to tie it up on the Aggies first possession at the 9:21 mark, but the Evangels defense clamped down by not allowing another Panhandle State score for nearly seven minutes.
  • On the ensuing possession, Anna Kash buried a midrange jumper in the paint to ignite an 18-0 Evangels surge. Ozoani scored eight of MACU's points during the run, capping it off on a three-point play with 4:02 left to bring the score to 37-19.
  • The Aggies rattled off five of the next six to close it to 38-24 on a Jones lay-in with 2:10 to go.
  • Mid-America Christian closed out the half by scoring six of the final eight as Wycoff found Lexi Hernandez for a corner three with 22 seconds left to send the Evangels into the half with a 44-26 advantage.
• Third Quarter
  • The MACU defense continued to dominate to begin the second half, holding OPSU to without a score for the first 4:23. The Evangels opened with nine unanswered as Wycoff drilled a three with 6:26 remaining to stretch the MACU edge to 53-26.
  • The Aggies rattled off four of the next five off of a Mariah Williams layup and a Laky Samo layup with 3:36 left to pull it to 54-30.
  • On MACU's next possession, Kash drained a three off Kyleigh Leverich's kick-out as the Evangels held OPSU scoreless over the final three-and-a-half minutes.
  • Abby Bird wrapped up a string of seven straight to close out the quarter by burying a floating jumper just before the buzzer from the left baseline to stretch the MACU advantage to 61-30 heading into the fourth.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Aneli Thomsen provided the spark off the bench to start the final period as MACU poured in eight of the first 10, six of which coming from Thomsen, extending the Evangels' edge to 69-32 with 7:18 left.
  • Panhandle State scored the next four to close it to a 33-point deficit, but that would be the most the Aggies would be able to cut into the MACU advantage.
  • Mid-America Christian responded with a 12-5 run over the next 4:25 as Jade Millan finished off a three-point play to give MACU its largest lead of the contest at 81-41 with 2:03 left.
  • The Aggies scored four of the final six, wrapping it up on a Williams layup with 17 seconds left to close out the 83-45 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the game by shooting 28-for-65 (43.1 percent), but boasted its best three-point shooting percentage of the season by going 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from range. Defensively, the Evangels dominated the Aggies, limiting OPSU to only 17-for-65 (26.2 percent) from the floor and 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from three.
• The Evangels were able to get to the foul line early and often, knocking down 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) as a team while the Aggies were only able to muster 7-for-15 (46.7 percent).
• MACU continued to control the glass, ripping down 51 boards to just 41 for OPSU while both teams played a clean game offensively with MACU committing only 13 turnovers while the Aggies finished with 15.
• Mid-America Christian was incredibly balanced on the offensive end with just three players scoring in double figures, but had seven players score at least seven points.
• Ossyana Ozoani led the offensive efforts with 19 points, 16 of which came in the opening half on 5-of-11 from the field and went 9-for-11 from the foul line. Ozoani also finished just a board shy of a double-double with nine.
• Abby Bird pitched in 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting to go with six rebounds and two steals while Anna Kash scored 10 points on 3-for-4 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc in just 14 minutes of action.
• Aneli Thomsen was one of two to finish with eight points to go with seven boards in just 11 minutes of play while Jade Millan also pitched in eight points.
• Sydney Wycoff dished out a team-high four assists to go with seven points and three steals while Lexi Hernandez also added seven points, three rebounds and three assists.
• The Aggies didn't have a single player crack into double-figures as OPSU was led by Tateum Jones, Briana Marquez and Mariah Williams with seven points apiece.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian has won 10 straight games, nine of which have come since the start of the new year.
• Mid-America Christian moved to 18-2 overall on the season and hold an 11-2 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play while Oklahoma Panhandle State fell to 4-12 overall and 2-12 against SAC competition.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap up its four-game home stand on Monday as the Evangels will be back inside the Gaulke Activity Center for a 6 p.m. tip-off against Southwestern Christian.