FORT WORTH, Texas – The No. 21 Mid-America Christian women's basketball team made an NAIA Era single-game record 35 free throws to come away with a crucial 101-92 road victory over Texas Wesleyan inside the Sid Richardson Center on Thursday night to stay atop of the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Kyleigh Leverich – 22 Points, 5-7 FG, 12-16 FT, 6 Reb, 3 Assists
• Abby Bird – 20 Points, 5-8 FG, 2-4 3FG, 8-8 FT, 4 Reb
• Lexi Hernandez – 18 Points, 5-7 FG, 7-10 FT, 4 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • An Ossyana Ozoani three-point play on Mid-America Christian's first possession started a high-scoring back-and-forth affair as the Evangels and Texas Wesleyan traded the lead nine times through the first 5:25.
  • With 4:50 to go, Abby Bird hit a fastbreak three-pointer from the right wing to give MACU its last lead of the half at 12-10.
  • On the ensuing possession, TWU's Hailee Walls drained a three from the right wing to start an 11-2 Rams run as a three by Mary Nyakundi with 3:10 left made it a 21-14 Rams advantage.
  • With 2:17 on the clock, Lexi Hernandez drained a three from the right wing to cut it to four before Walls responded with another three to push the TWU edge back out to 26-19 with just over a minute remaining.
  • Kyleigh Leverich and Makayla Coy traded layups before a Sydney Savage layup with five seconds left closed the MACU deficit to 28-23 at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • TWU's Ariell Warren opened the second period with a layup before Anna Kash scored a layup before getting a steal leading to a Leverich three-point play, trimming the Rams lead to 30-28 with 8:16 left.
  • The Rams were able to hold the Evangels to just one point over the next four minutes while stringing together eight unanswered during a 10-1 run, taking their largest lead of the (game? half?) at 40-29 with 4:37 to go off a pair of Kertisa Amos free throws.
  • A Wycoff layup and a Hernandez three closed it to six before another Walls triple pushed it back out to 43-34 with 3:49 remaining.
  • The Evangels continued to chip away as layups by Hernandez and Leverich pulled it to five at 43-38 with just under two minutes left.
  • After giving up a jumper to Coy on the next possession, the Evangels held Texas Wesleyan scoreless over the final 1:40 as a McKenzi Lamer layup with 48 seconds left closed the TWU edge to 45-41 heading into the break.
• Third Quarter
  • The start of the second half was relatively even between the two squads as the Lady Rams maintained at least a four-point lead over the first three minutes.
  • Following a Maliah LaCour layup at the 6:17 mark, Presley Payahsape answered on the other end with a layup to start an eight-unanswered streak.
  • A layup by Sydney Savage with 5:36 remaining gave MACU its first lead since the midway point of the first quarter while a Hernandez layup and another Savage bucket swelled the MACU edge to 55-52 with just over four minutes left.
  • Texas Wesleyan managed to chip it down to one on a pair of occasions before two Hernandez free throws started a 9-2 surge to close out the half.
  • After Zarria Carter knocked down a jump-shot to close it to 61-58 with 1:51 left, Abby Bird scored MACU's final five points as a pair of free throws led up to the senior forward burying a shot-clock beating three from the left corner with 15 seconds to go, sending MACU into the fourth with a 66-58 advantage.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Bird buried a pair of free throws to start the final period to give MACU its first double-digit lead as the Evangels held an 8-to-10-point cushion over the first two minutes.
  • Texas Wesleyan closed it back to two possessions at 72-66 at the 7:28 mark on a pair of Carter layups.
  • After trading the next four baskets, a Payahsape hoop-and-harm followed by a Bird lay-in swelled the Evangels edge back out to double-figures at 81-70 just past the midway point of the period.
  • Following a LaCour layup, Ossyana Ozoani answered with a lay-in on the ensuing possession with 4:16 before the Evangels did their damage from the foul line the rest of the way.
  • Mid-America Christian as a team went 18-of-22 from the free throw line over the final 3:38 as the Evangels held off the Texas Wesleyan rally. Leverich knocked down 8-of-10 while Hernandez buried 5-for-6 from the stripe during the final stretch.

GAME NOTES

• Offensively, Mid-America Christian shot an incredibly efficient 31-of-53 (58.3 percent) from the field despite just converting 4-for-10 (40 percent) from the three-point arc. The Evangels defensively held Texas Wesleyan to 33-of-83 (39.8 percent) from the floor and 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from downtown.
• In a tough game that had 63 combined fouls called, it was the Evangels that took advantage of the charity stripe by knocking down 35-of-44 (79.5 percent) while the Lady Rams could only convert 20-of-30 (66.7 percent).
• The 35 made free throws broke a 12-year old record that was set with 34 conversions in a 61-59 victory over Southwestern (Kan.) on Nov. 5, 2009.
• In a battle between a Texas Wesleyan team that ranks third in the NAIA in rebound differential (13.1) and the Evangels that rank seventh (12.4), it was the Evangels that dominated the glass by a 41-30 margin. However, the Lady Rams were able to win the turnover differential at 14-to-6.
• It was a career-day for senior point guard Kyleigh Leverich, who scored a career-best 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with 12-for-16 from the free throw line. The 16 free throw attempts is tied for the fourth-most by an Evangels player in the NAIA era. Leverich also finished with six rebounds to go with three assists.
• Senior forward Abby Bird notched her best game in an Evangels uniform by scoring 20 points on 5-for-8 from the floor, 2-of-4 from three and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe to go with four boards in just 20 minutes of action.
• Lexi Hernandez rounded out the double-figure scorers for MACU with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 7-for-10 from the foul line to go with four boards.
• Ossyana Ozoani and Sydney Wycoff led the rebounding efforts with eight boards to go with seven points apiece.
• With the victory, Mid-America Christian has now won 17-of-21 in the all-time series since the two teams started playing each other in 2009. The Evangels have also currently won five straight, including the last two in Fort Worth.
• It was a crucial win for the Evangels who came into the contest with a half-game lead on Texas Wesleyan at the top of the Sooner Athletic Conference standings. Mid-America Christian improved to 20-2 overall with a 13-2 mark in SAC play while Texas Wesleyan fell to 17-3 with an 11-3 SAC record.
• Mid-America Christian has now won 20 or more games in five of the last six seasons with the lone exception being the heavily COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season in which the Evangels were only able to play 12 total games for the season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will prepare for another strong test on Saturday as the Evangels host Science & Arts for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.