OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 20 Mid-America Christian women's basketball team was able to hold off a furious fourth quarter rally by the Stars to come away with a 73-69 victory on Thursday night for the squad's first win over Oklahoma City inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Lexi Hernandez – 22 Points, 7-15 FG, 6-10 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Assists, 2 Steals
• Presley Payahsape – 17 Points, 7-16 FG, 2-5 3FG
• Anna Kash – 12 Points, 4-8 FG, 2-5 3FG, 5 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • It was a back-and-forth low scoring affair in the early going as Mid-America Christian held a brief lead off a pair of Presley Payahsape layups before a Annila Dawn three-pointer gave Oklahoma City a 5-4 edge with 7:15 remaining.
  • The Evangels scored six of the next eight to regain the momentum. Ossyana Ozoani was able to get a strong finish off a nice Lexi Hernandez dish before OCU's Abby Selzer scored in the low block on an offensive board and put-back to tie it back up. It was Payahsape with the early hot hand as her three-point bomb on the following possession made it a 10-7 MACU lead with just under six minutes left.
  • Both teams were offensively challenged over the next two minutes as a pair of Selzer free throws were the only scores before Erika Ankney went coast-to-coast with a fastbreak layup at the 3:20 mark gave the Stars the lead back at 11-10.
  • An Anna Kash free throw briefly tied it up before OCU took its largest lead of the game on an Ankney jumper with 2:52 to go to make it 13-11.
  • Sydney Wycoff's layup on the next possession allowed the Evangels to close out the period with a 6-1 run as a strong Abby Bird finish preceded a Kash jump-shot with 33 seconds to go, making it a 17-14 Evangels' edge after one.
• Second Quarter
  • Both teams were held in a scoreless stalemate through the first three minutes before Payahsape nailed a midrange jumper with 6:38 left to push the MACU lead out to five.
  • Following two free throws from Dawn, a three-ball from Hernandez started an offense barrage for both teams as they combined for 15 points before Ankney knocked down two free throws to close it back to a two-possession game at 27-23 with 3:19 remaining.
  • With 3:08 to go, Kash started a three-point barrage for the Evangels as MACU closed out the half with a 14-2 surge.
  • Hernandez was able to give MACU the 41-25 edge with 16 seconds left before the half as she drained the three-ball after finding herself open when two OCU players miscommunicated on a switch at the top of the key.
• Third Quarter
  • OCU was able to establish Selzer in the low-post with two early scores to start the third, cutting it to 41-29 at the 8:38 mark.
  • After Payahsape and Dawn traded threes, the Evangels were able to capture their largest lead of the contest following a 7-2 run finished off by Wycoff triple, setting the score to 51-34 with 5:14 to go.
  • The Stars tallied nine of the next 11, which included a string of seven unanswered to close it to a 10-point game at 53-43 an Ankney layup with 3:15 left.
  • Another Hernandez triple briefly stopped the OCU surge, but the Stars scored the next four to knock it down to a single-digit deficit for the first time since the 2:43 mark in the second quarter 56-47 with 1:44 left.
  • A Wycoff three-point play and a Hernandez three-ball started a string of seven straight for the Evangels to reclaim a strong lead before Selzer converted another offensive board for a layup with 41 seconds remaining to close it to 63-49 after three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian hit a major scoring slump to start the fourth period as OCU put in the first five before Kaylee Hurst followed her own shot on a missed three-pointer and put in the open layup to push it back to a double-digit lead at 65-54 with 6:20 to go.
  • After Dawn knocked down a jumper, Hernandez drained her sixth triple of the contest to give MACU its final double-digit lead of the game at 68-56 with 5:28 left.
  • The Evangels went into yet another near four-minute scoring slump as the Stars rattled off six straight as two Fiona Wilson free throws closed it to 68-62 with 1:46 remaining.
  • MACU finally snapped the slump when Hernandez found Ozoani breaking in transition for the fastbreak left-handed layup with 1:37 on the clock to make it 70-62.
  • The Stars managed to knock it down to three with 36 seconds left on a Selzer layup, setting the score to 70-67 before resort to foul to prolong the game.
  • After Payahsape knocked down one of two throws with 30 seconds left, Ankney finished a layup to close it to 71-69 with 16 second remaining.
  • Hernandez was quickly fouled following a pair of timeouts and drained a pair of clutch foul shots with 13 seconds to go to seal the 73-69 victory.

GAME NOTES

• After shooting a blistering 16-for-31 (51.6 percent) in the first half, Mid-America Christian struggled on the offensive end in the second, but still managed to finish the contest 26-for-62 (41.9 percent) from the field and 12-for-31 (38.7 percent) from the three-point arc.
• The Evangels defensively contained Oklahoma City to only 23-for-63 (36.5 percent) shooting, including just 4-for-28 (14.3 percent) from the three-point arc.
• Following a cold shooting night at UNT Dallas on Sunday, Lexi Hernandez got back on-track offensively with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-15 from the field, 6-for-10 from three and 2-of-2 from the foul line. The senior guard also finished with three assists and two steals.
• Presley Payahsape was the other hot hand for the Evangels offensively, finishing with 17 points on 7-for-16 shooting, going 2-for-5 from downtown.
• Anna Kash rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, also knocking down 2-for-5 from three and ripping down five boards.
• Despite a cold shooting night, Kyleigh Leverich was MACU's biggest offensive facilitator, dishing out a team-high five assists while also leading the Evangels on the glass by tying a career-high nine rebounds.
• After losing the first 30 games in the series to the Stars since the two teams started playing each other in the 2007-08 season, the Evangels completed the series sweep over OCU following the program's first ever win over the powerhouse program in a 71-53 drubbing in Abe Lemons Arena on Jan. 6.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian stayed within a half-game of Wayland Baptist for the Sooner Athletic Conference lead, improving to 16-2 in league play and 23-2 overall. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City fell to 14-10 overall and currently sit in a three-way tie for sixth in the SAC at 9-10.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will prepare for a two-game road swing on Saturday as the Evangels will head to Siloam Springs, Ark for a 2 p.m. tip-off against John Brown.