OKLAHOMA CITY – In the 31^st meeting between the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team and Oklahoma City since the program joined the SAC in 2007, the Evangels were able to pick up their first ever win over the Stars with a stifling defensive effort in the 71-53 victory inside Abe Lemons Arena on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Presley Payahsape – 13 Points, 6-15 FG, 2 Reb
• Abby Bird – 12 Points, 4-8 FG, 4-4 FT, 7 Reb, 2 Blocks
• Ossyana Ozoani – 10 Points, 4-8 FG, 10 Reb,

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Oklahoma City held Mid-America Christian scoreless through the first 3:27 as the Stars jumped out to an early 9-0 advantage behind five points from Fiona Wilson.
  • An Ossyana Ozoani layup at the 6:33 mark jumpstarted the Evangels offense as MACU went on a 9-2 run, closing it to 11-9 on a Presley Payahsape three from the top of the key with 4:41 left.
  • The Evangels eventually closed it to one on an Anna Kash three from the right wing, setting the score to 13-12 with just under three minutes to go, but the Stars regained some breathing room with a five unanswered run to make it 18-12 on an Abby Selzer three-point play with 1:59 remaining.
  • MACU held OCU off the board over the final stretch as a Payahsape left-handed layup in the lane and a pair of Abby Bird free throws closed it to an 18-16 deficit after one period.
• Second Quarter
  • Both teams struggled to score in the first few minutes before Payahsape scored her seventh-point of the contest on another lay-in with just over eight minutes left.
  • OCU's Jordyn Eaton scored the next four points to give the lead back to the Stars before the Evangels strung together the biggest run of the contest.
  • With 5:38 to go, Lexi Hernandez buried a three from the right wing off a great skip pass from Sydney Wycoff to start a 14-0 run. Two possessions later, Ozoani gave MACU its first lead of the game on a reverse layup with 3:53 left.
  • Aneli Thomsen and Bird each got jumpers to fall before a Kyleigh Leverich three and a McKenzi Lamer fastbreak layup gave the Evangels its largest lead of the half at 32-22 with 2:12 left.
  • Oklahoma City clamped down defensively on the Evangels over the final two minutes as an Eaton three and a Wilson three-point play with 1:25 remaining allowed the Stars to close it to a 32-28 game heading into the half.
• Third Quarter
  • The Evangels started the second half with an eight-unanswered run as a Kash three, an Ozoani three-point play and Bird offensive putback swelled the MACU advantage to 40-28 with 6:18 left.
  • Oklahoma City went scoreless for the first 4:03 before a Wilson jumper snapped MACU's run.
  • Just past the midway point of the period, the Evangels rattled off another five straight with a trio of free throws before Wycoff got the offensive board and putback to make it a 47-32 contest with 4:15 to go.
  • Three minutes later, the Evangels utilized a 6-0 spurt to push its advantage out to 57-39 with 52 seconds left, but OCU scored the final four points to close it to a 14-point contest.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Once again, Mid-America Christian clamped down by not allowing a single Stars point for the first 3:36 as buckets by Payahsape and Lexi Hernandez led to a fastbreak layup for Kash to give MACU its largest lead of the contest at 63-43 with 7:34 remaining.
  • The Evangels went cold over the next four minutes as Oklahoma City went on an 8-2 run to close it to 65-51 with 3:17 on the clock off a Wilson breakaway layup.
  • Sydney Savage came in off the bench and stemmed the tide with a pair of layups as the Evangels closed out the contest with a 6-2 run. Hernandez knocked down a pair of free throws with 49 seconds to go to secure the 71-53 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Both teams struggled offensively, but Mid-America Christian was the more efficient of the two teams as MACU went 28-of-81 (34.6 percent) from the field and 5-for-28 (17.9 percent) from three while the Stars converted just 15-for-65 (23.1 percent), including only 5-for-31 (16.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
• The two teams were also efficient from the foul line as the Evangels finished 10-for-12 (83.3 percent), but the Stars were able to make up some ground from the shooting woes by knocking down 18-of-20 (90 percent) from the line.
• Mid-America Christian dominated on the glass by a 64-42 margin, including a 24-12 edge on the offensive end while also holding a slight edge in the turnover battle at 11 to 12.
• In her return to the lineup, senior forward Presley Payahsape led the offensive efforts with 13 points on 6-for-15 shooting off the Evangels bench while Abby Bird finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line to go with seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
• Senior forward Ossyana Ozoani kept her double-double streak intact, notching her seventh straight game with a double-double mark with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting and went 2-for-4 from the charity stripe to go with 10 boards.
• Senior forward Aneli Thomsen led MACU on the glass with a career-high 13 rebounds while also chipping in six points. Sydney Wycoff finished with a team-leading four assists to go with seven boards while Kyleigh Leverich chipped in three assists and nine rebounds.
• Since the Evangels joined the Sooner Athletic Conference prior to the start of the 2007-08 season, Mid-America Christian found its first victory over the national powerhouse OCU team. The closest the Evangels previously came to beating the Stars during that stretch was an 87-85 defeat in the SAC Tournament in Waxahachie, Texas on Mar. 4, 2016.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian improved to 13-2 overall and 6-2 in SAC play while the Stars fell to 9-4 with a 4-4 mark against SAC competition.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for a home matchup with John Brown on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.