OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team faced a stiff test from crosstown rival Southwestern Christian, but the Evangels used a late fourth quarter surge to wrap-up their four-game home stand with a 65-54 victory inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Presley Payahsape – 19 Points, 7-18 FG, 5-10 3FG, 2 Reb, 2 Assists
• Kyleigh Leverich – 12 Points, 3-5 FG, 2-2 3FG, 7 Reb, 5 Assists
• Ossyana Ozoani – 7 Points, 2-5 FG, 3-4 FT, 12 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • The two teams battled evenly through the first two minutes before a Presley Payahsape three from the right wing off a Kyleigh Leverich dish gave Mid-America Christian the 6-3 lead with 7:42 remaining.
  • Southwestern Christian utilized a six-unanswered run, capping off the run on a Christina Jenkins lay-in with 3:18 left to grab an 11-8 advantage.
  • The Evangels strung together six straight of their own to counter. Following a Kaylee Hurst layup, an Aneli Thomsen layup and a pair of Hurst free throws made it a 14-11 contest with 1:55 to go.
  • SCU's Kaitin Turner buried a three-pointer with 31 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 14-all heading into the second quarter.
• Second Quarter
  • The MACU defense completely shut down the Eagles to start the second period, holding SCU scoreless for the first 5:32.
  • A pair of Sydney Wycoff free throws started an 11-0 surge by the Evangels as a three by Presley Payahsape, two Ossyana Ozoani free throws layups by Leverich and Wycoff set the score to 25-14 with 4:54 to go.
  • Southwestern Christian battled back with four straight off a Thamires Andrade jumper and free throw along with an Abbey Phibbs free throw, trimming the MACU edge to 25-18 with 3:30 left.
  • The Evangels pushed it back out to double-figures at 29-18 with 2:42 left on a Lexi Hernandez three-point play, but SCU scored the final bucket before the break on a Tresha Yager layup to make it 29-20 at the half.
• Third Quarter
  • The Evangels once again stifled the Eagles to start the second half, limiting SCU to just two points through the first 4:51.
  • A Hernandez layup followed by back-to-back layups from Ozoani started a 9-2 run as a Leverich three with 7:13 left gave MACU its largest lead of the game at 38-22.
  • The Eagles defense was able to slow down MACU by creating a 5:07 scoring drought while stringing together a seven-unanswered streak, capped off on an Andrade three-point play to make a 38-29 game with 2:19 to go.
  • The two teams traded a pair of scores over the final 2:05 as a Payahsape layup and an Anna Kash jumper to go with Lauren Masquat layup and a Yager jumpshot kept MACU at a 42-33 advantage after three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Southwestern Christian scored the first seven to open the fourth period as a Yager triple with 8:11 to go closed the Evangels edge to just two at 42-40.
  • Kash hit a spin move in the lane to briefly thwart the run, but the Eagles tallied four of the next five to pull it to a 45-44 game with 6:35 remaining.
  • Midway through the quarter, Payahsape hit a pair of pivotal threes during a 6-2 run to extend the Evangels' edge to 51-46 with 4:32 left.
  • The Eagles made one more strong push with under three minutes left as a pair of Andrade lay-ins closed the gap back down to 53-52 with 2:12 on-the-clock.
  • Following a Payahsape layup and a defensive stop, the forward from Cashion, Okla. hit one of the biggest shots of the game as Leverich hit her coming off a curl on the left wing as she buried a three to extend the edge to 58-52 with 1:28 to.
  • After Masquat hit a free throw to cut the SCU deficit to five, Kash put the nail in the coffin when Leverich found her in the left corner for a three that rattled in, extending the advantage to 61-53 with 55 seconds remaining.
  • The Evangels came up with some strong stops during the final minute while Leverich knocked down four free throws down the stretch to seal the 65-54 win.

GAME NOTES

• It was an offensive struggle for both teams as Mid-America Christian could only muster 21-for-53 (39.6 percent), but was able to make up ground from the three-point arc and the foul line by knocking down 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) from range and shot a blistering 15-for-17 (88.2 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Defensively, MACU limited the Eagles to just 21-for-57 (36.8 percent) shooting, but especially shut down SCU from beyond the arc at only 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) and knocked down 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the free throw line.
• The Evangels won the rebounding battle by a 39-32 margin while SCU held a slight edge in the turnover differential in 14-to-15 giveaways.
• Presley Payahsape led the MACU offense with 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting, but was extremely sharp from the three-point-arc at 5-for-10 to go with a pair of rebounds and two assists.
• After being held scoreless against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday, Kyleigh Leverich finished with a season-high 12 points on 3-of-5 from the floor, 2-for-2 from three and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to go with seven rebounds and a team-high five assists.
• Senior forward Ossyana Ozoani once again came up just short of a double-double, finishing with seven points on 2-of-5 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line to go with a game-high 12 rebounds.
• Thamires Andrade led SCU with a game-high 20 points on 9-of-19 shooting with 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals, but no other Eagles players were able to crack into double-figures against the MACU defense.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian swept the season series after defeating SCU 69-47 in Bethany, Okla. back on Dec. 7, 2021. MACU has won six of the last seven in the series dating back to the 2018-19 season and also improved to 13-0 inside the Gaulke Activity Center this season.
• Mid-America Christian moved to 19-2 overall and hold a 12-2 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play while Southwestern Christian fell to 11-9 and 6-8 against league competition. The victory for the Evangels have moved them into a tie with No. 9 Wayland Baptist atop the conference standings.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now hit the road for a crucial SAC matchup on Thursday against Texas Wesleyan, who sits just a half-game back of the Evangels in the league standings. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth, Texas.