BETHANY, Okla. – The No. 20 MACU women's basketball team got back on the winning track on Tuesday night as the Evangels cruised to a 72-59 road win over Southwestern Christian inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Jaci Littell – 13 Points, 3-13 FG, 6-6 FT, 8 Reb, 3 Steals
- Kyleigh Leverich – 13 Points, 5-9 FG, 3-6 3FG, 5 Reb
- Shy Christopher – 13 Points, 5-12 FG, 3-6 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Assists
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- Southwestern Christian (5-7, 3-4 SAC) grabbed the early momentum through the first four minutes as the Eagles jumped out to a 9-4 lead behind a Jayden Mason steal and three-pointer off a Christina Jenkins dish with 6:04 to go.
- Mid-America Christian (9-2, 4-2 SAC) put together a stifling defensive effort over the next five minutes as a Jaci Littell three ignited a 15-point unanswered run for the Evangels. A pair of Alexis Borgstadt foul shots with 42 seconds left stretched the MACU edge to 19-9.
- A Delaney Reimer triple on the ensuing possession closed the gap to seven, but Littell canned a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to push the MACU advantage to 21-12 heading into the second period.
- Second Quarter
- The Evangels defensive dominance carried over into the second quarter as MACU held the Eagles scoreless through the first 6:11 of the period. During the SCU drought, Mid-America Christian scored 17 straight as Kyleigh Leverich's three-ball from the corner from a Whitney Outon assist at the 4:36 mark made it a 38-12 MACU lead.
- MACU pushed its advantage out to as much as 27 at 44-17 behind an Aneli Thomsen three from the left corner and a Shy Christopher foul shot with 1:41 to go.
- Southwestern Christian held the Evangels scoreless the rest of the way as the Eagles scored the final four points as Reimer's score with 1:09 left made it a 44-21 game at the break.
- Third Quarter
- Southwestern Christian carried a 10-unanswered surge into the second half as the Eagles scored the first three buckets, capped on an MJ Case layup with 7:55 left to close it to 44-27.
- The Evangels bounced back with a 10-4 run of its own as Leverich started the run with a tightly contested left-handed layup and finished it with a three-ball to push the MACU edge out to 54-31 with 3:31 left.
- SCU's Lauren Masquat answered with a triple on the ensuing possession as the Eagles closed out the quarter by scoring eight of the final 12 points to bring it to a 58-39 game.
- Fourth Quarter
- After Shy Christopher opened the final period with a layup in the paint, the Eagles closed it to a 16-point game on a Jaydin Mason score and a Kirstyn Strain triple to bring it to 60-44 with 7:52 left.
- An Ashley Hopper lay-in on the ensuing possession ignited a string of eight straight for MACU, capped off on a Tyaija Coleman steal and fastbreak layup to swell Evangels' edge to 68-44 with 5:58 to go.
- Southwestern Christian closed out the quarter by outscoring the Evangels playing primarily their reserves 15-4 to wrap-up the 72-59 final score.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian outshot Southwestern Christian in the contest, going 26-for-64 (40.6 percent) from the field, 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from three and 13-for-18 (72.2 percent) from the charity stripe while the Eagles were held to 21-of-62 (33.9 percent), including 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from three and 10-for-15 (66.7 percent from the foul line.
- Outscoring SCU 44-21 in the first half, the Evangels defensively frustrated the Eagles into shooting just 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from the floor and forced 11 turnovers.
- While the two teams were even in the turnover battle at 15-all, the Evangels dominated the glass by outrebounding SCU 42-31.
- Offensively, MACU put together a balanced scoring effort with three players scoring 13 points in Jaci Littell, Shy Christopher and Kyleigh Leverich. Littell narrowly missed a double-double with a team-leading eight rebounds and three steals. Christopher notched her 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting to go with four boards and a pair of assists while Leverich went 5-for-9 from the field and 3-of-6 from three with five rebounds.
- Whitney Outon led MACU's distribution efforts with three of the squad's 11 assists.
- With the win, Mid-America Christian improved to 27-8 against Southwestern Christian since the 2003-04 season and have won 13 of the last 15 meetings.
- The Evangels also snapped their first losing streak since the end of the 2020-21 season.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will return from the Christmas break with a high-profile top 25 matchup against No. 19 Sterling (Kan.) on New Year's Eve. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
