OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 20 MACU women's basketball team was outscored by Science & Arts 46-27 combined in the second and fourth quarters as the Evangels suffered their first home loss of the season by a score of 74-63 to the Drovers on Thursday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
TOP PERFORMERS
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- Science & Arts (10-0, 5-0 SAC) scored the first points on a put-back layup by Lainey Morrow 33 seconds in, but both teams were held scoreless over a three-minute stretch until Shy Christopher buried a pair of foul shots with 6:31 left to tie it up.
- After Diaka Berete converted a layup from a Brayanna Polk baseline dish off a Mid-America Christian (8-2, 3-2 SAC) turnover to take a four-point lead, a Shy Christopher floater in the lane on the ensuing possession ignited a nine-unanswered run as Christopher capped it on a coast-to-coast fastbreak layup off an Alexis Borgstadt steal to make it a 12-7 Evangels lead with 17 seconds to go.
- The Drovers managed to break the MACU press on the final possession as Trinitee Alexander capped the quarter with a layup from the left side off a Zaria Dorsey dish with 2.2 seconds to go to set the score to 12-9 at the end of one.
- Second Quarter
- The Evangels defensively clamped down through the first three minutes as MACU scored the first five on a Borgstadt layup and a Whitney Outon three-ball from the top of the key off a Sydney Wycoff dish, giving the Evangels their largest lead of the game at 17-9 with 7:22 remaining.
- USAO closed it back to a one-possession game at the 4:43 mark as a Bereke free throw wrapped up a Drovers 7-2 surge before Jaci Littell drained a triple from straight on with 4:27 left to push it back out to a 22-16 MACU advantage.
- A pair of Polk three balls started and ended a 10-unanswered streak for the Drovers as USAO went up 26-22 with just over three minutes left before MACU briefly took the lead back following a Hallie Reed three from the left wing and an Outon jumper to set the score to 27-26 with 2:13 to go.
- The Drovers scored the final seven points as Zaria Dorsey's triple from the right wing sent USAO into the half with the 33-27 edge.
- Third Quarter
- Mid-America Christian came out of the locker room on-fire to start the second half as Christopher and Thomsen combined to score eight points during an 8-2 run as Christopher's triple brought it even at 35-all at the 8:44 mark.
- After a Thomsen triple tied it back up at 38 with just over seven minutes left, the Drovers mustered a 7-1 surge as Lainey Morrow split a double-team to finish on the left side, giving the Drovers their largest lead of the period at 45-39 with 4:25 left.
- MACU closed it back down to one on two different occasions, the last coming on Thomsen's and-one to make it 49-48 with just under two minutes to go, but the Drovers managed to hold on to a 52-50 edge going into the final period.
- Fourth Quarter
- The Evangels struggled offensively through the first five minutes of the quarter as a Wycoff three at the 7:16 mark was Mid-America Christian's only bucket in the stretch. A Jessica Palmer theft of Tyaija Coleman led to an open outlet to Berete as her fastbreak layup gave USAO its largest lead of the contest at 66-53 with 5:22 on the clock.
- A tightly contested Kyleigh Leverich lay-in finally snapped the cold spell with 4:55 to go, but the closest the Evangels would be able to cut into the USAO advantage was off of a pair of tough finishes by Christopher on back-to-back possessions to set the score to 69-61 with 1:26 left.
- With just over a minute to go, Morrow converted a three-point play to ultimately put a halt to the Evangels comeback as the Drovers pulled away with the 74-63 win.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian struggled offensively against the Drovers defense as MACU managed to only shoot 21-for-65 (32.3 percent) from the floor and 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from three. The Evangels also found difficulties from the charity stripe as MACU converted just 13-of-25 (52 percent) from the line.
- Science & Arts finished 23-of-58 (43.1 percent) from the field and efficiently knocked down 7-for-15 (46.7 percent) from behind the arc while also taking care of business from the foul line by making 17-of-24 (70.8 percent) of its attempts.
- Both teams were dead even in the rebounding battle as each team finished with 46 boards, but the Evangels did manage to force the Drovers into committing 19 turnovers while committing just 15 in their own right.
- Shy Christopher led the MACU offensive efforts with a season-high 24 points on 9-for-22 shooting and also knocked down 5-of-8 foul shots to go with six boards.
- Aneli Thomsen was the only other Evangel to finish in double-figure scoring with 12 points on 3-of-8 from the field, including 2-for-4 from downtown and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
- Whitney Outon led the MACU rebounding efforts with 13 boards to go with five points while Kyleigh Leverich finished with a team-high four assists along with seven points, four rebounds and three steals.
- Science & Arts kept the trend of neither team being able to establish a win streak in the series as the two teams have traded the last seven contests since Feb. 5, 2019.
- After suffering the heartbreaking loss at Wayland Baptist on Saturday, it is the first time the Evangels have lost back-to-back games since dropping a 75-66 decision to Langston (Okla.) in the SAC Quarterfinal on Feb. 23, 2021 followed by an 85-83 defeat to Columbia (Mo.) in the NAIA Tournament First Round on Mar. 12, 2021.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will return to the road next week before heading into the Christmas break as the Evangels will head uptown to Bethany, Okla. to face Southwestern Christian on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
