OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 21 Mid-America Christian women's basketball team overcame a slow start early and held off a late comeback as the Evangels picked up their 12^th straight with a 65-60 victory over Sooner Athletic Conference rival Science & Arts inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Lexi Hernandez – 23 Points, 9-15 FG, 4-5 3FG, 8 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Blocks
• Ossyana Ozoani – 15 Points, 5-9 FG, 5-6 FT, 11 Reb, 3 Steals
• Sydney Wycoff – 15 Points, 4-11 FG, 2-4 3FG, 5-5 FT, 5 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Science & Arts was red-hot out of the gate, jumping out to a 13-3 advantage after Jordan Bloomfield buried a three with 6:19 remaining.
  • The Evangels defense clamped down on USAO over the next four minutes as MACU trimmed the deficit in half on an Ossyana Ozoani layup off a Sydney Wycoff dish to make it 13-8 with 3:14 to go.
  • A pair of Milagros Carrera free throws at the 2:29 mark finally stopped the Drovers' scoring drought.
  • MACU finished strong as a three-pointer by Lexi Hernandez with 1:27 left knocked it down to four before Kyle Leverich nailed a mid-range jumper trim it to a 15-13 deficit at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • A Hernandez triple on MACU's second possession of the period gave MACU its first lead before both teams hit a three-plus minute scoring drought.
  • A Zaria Dorsey lay-in with 6:10 on the clock gave USAO the lead back before Carrera added to the Drovers lead with a layup at the 5:38 mark to make it 19-16.
  • Nearing the midway point, Wycoff drained a game-tying three to start a string of seven unanswered as another Hernandez three-ball pushed the Evangels' edge out to 24-19 with 2:45 left.
  • A Kaytlen Johnson score on an offensive rebound and put-back briefly stopped the MACU run before the Evangels picked right back up on their next offensive possession with a Hernandez layup followed by two Ozoani foul shots with 1:21 to go, giving Mid-America Christian its largest lead of the half at 28-21.
  • Bloomfield knocked down a three on the ensuing Drovers possession, but neither team could score in the final minute as the Evangels took a 28-24 advantage into the halftime break.
• Third Quarter
  • A Presley Payahsape three on the opening possession set the tone as the Evangels rattled off nine in a row before Leverich picked Johnson's pocket near mid-court and then went in for a fastbreak layup to swell the lead to 37-24 with 7:50 left.
  • USAO cut the Evangels' advantage to single-digits off a Dorsey jumper and then a steal and fastbreak lay-in for Carrera, but Ozoani pushed it back to double-digits at 39-28 on a free throw line jumper with 6:10 to go.
  • Both teams went stone cold from the floor over the next two minutes before a Namemiah Johnson three from the top of the key started a five-unanswered run as Dorsey's jumper with 3:21 left brought it to a 39-33 game.
  • Ozoani finished strong at the 2:18 mark to snap MACU's four-minute scoring slump, but the Drovers were eventually able to whittle the Evangels' edge to 45-40 on a Dorsey three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining.
  • Mid-America Christian scored the last five points over the final 27 seconds as Hernandez notched a pair of layup between a Leverich free throw, including a bucket with three seconds left to stretch the lead out to 50-40 at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Hernandez knocked down her fourth three-pointer on MACU's first possession of the final period to expand the MACU advantage to 53-40 before hitting another four-minute scoring drought.
  • A fastbreak layup and foul by Johnson jumpstarted a 7-0 surge for the Drovers as Carrera's lay-in with 5:58 to go trimmed it to 53-47.
  • Wycoff came up with a much needed three-point play of her own on MACU's following offensive possession to push it back out to a nine-point edge.
  • It was a back-and-forth battle over the next four minutes, but the Drovers were able to close it to a two-possession game nearing the final minute on a Johnson fastbreak layup with 1:02 to make it 62-57.
  • After USAO missed an opportunity to cut it to one possession on a missed fastbreak layup by Johnson, Ozoani pulled down her 11^th rebound of the game to set the Evangels up for an important final possession.
  • With the shot clock winding down, Ozoani came up clutch when able to catch a pass near the foul line from Leverich and make an open run toward the baseline where she converted a shot-clock beating layup and drew a foul with eight seconds left to put a dagger in the USAO's comeback effort to extend the edge to 65-57.
  • Carrera converted a three-point play with four seconds left on the Drovers final possession to wrap up the 65-60 win for the Evangels.

GAME NOTES

• It was a hard-fought defensive battle between both teams as Mid-America Christian held a slight shooting advantage at 21-for-59 (35.6 percent) from the floor and 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from three while Science & Arts could only muster 24-for-73 (32.9 percent) shooting and 6-of-26 (23.1 percent) from three.
• For the second straight game, MACU was able to take advantage of some outstanding free throw shooting by knocking down 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) while the Drovers were held to only six attempts for the whole game, making all six.
• It was a rare game for MACU where it lost both the rebounding and turnover battles as Science & Arts held a 47-42 rebounding margin for the contest while committing 13 turnovers to 14 miscues for the Evangels.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian split the season series with Science & Arts as the Evangels last loss came to the Drovers in a 64-62 defeat in Chickasha, Okla. back on Dec. 2, 2021. MACU has now amassed 12 straight wins since that contest.
• Despite MACU's offensive struggles, senior guard Lexi Hernandez put together her best offensive performance of the season. Hernandez finished with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including going 4-for-5 from three-point range to go with eight rebounds, just one shy of her career-high. Hernandez also notched a pair of assists while also recording two blocked shots.
• Ossyana Ozoani turned in her 12^th double-digit rebound performance and her 11^th double-double of the season with 15 points on 5-of-9 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the line with 11 rebounds and a team-high three steals on defense.
• Sydney Wycoff rounded out MACU's double-figure scorers with 15 points on 4-of-11 from the floor, but a blistering 2-for-4 from three and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe to go with five boards.
• The win wrapped up a tough stretch for the Evangels as MACU picked up three wins over teams ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll in the last five games.
• The victory kept MACU tied atop the Sooner Athletic Conference standings with a 14-2 league mark and a 21-2 record overall while Science & Arts dropped to fourth at 11-4 with a 17-5 overall record.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for a Texas road trip next week as the Evangels will head to Waxahachie, Texas on Thursday for a 6 p.m. tip-off against Southwestern Assemblies of God.