LANGSTON, Okla. – The No. 20 Mid-America Christian women's basketball team continued its torrid record-breaking season by notching the program's first 26-win season with a 67-48 road victory against Langston inside the C.F. Gayles Arena on Saturday.

The victory comes in the Evangels' final regular season game before the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament begins on Feb. 22.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Ossyana Ozoani – 18 Points, 6-12 FG, 6-8 FT, 16 Reb, 3 Steals
• Anna Kash – 19 Points, 7-16 FG, 5-8 3FG
• Sydney Wycoff – 10 Points, 4-6 FG, 5 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • After giving up the first basket, Mid-America Christian went on a 10-1 run, as Ossyana Ozoani scored the first seven points during the streak before a Lexi Hernandez three-pointer with 4:51 to go stretched the lead to 10-3.
  • The Lady Lions scored five unanswered late in the quarter, as Jada Spence's free throw at the 1:43 mark closed it to 12-10.
  • On the ensuing possession, Presley Payahsape's bucket pushed the MACU edge back out to 14-10 as neither team could muster a score for the rest of the period.
• Second Quarter
  • It was a defensive slugfest through the first six minutes as both MACU and Langston could only scratch across three points apiece during the stretch.
  • Anna Kash started a three-point barrage with just under four minutes to go, scoring three triples in a 1:04 stretch as her last gave MACU a 26-13 lead with 2:55 remaining.
  • After a pair of Asheika Alexander foul shots knocked it down to 11, the Evangels rattled off another eight unanswered with Kash burying two more three-balls in-between an Ozoani layup to stretch the advantage to 34-15 with 1:34 on the clock.
  • Langston was able to take advantage of the offense glass on the final possession as two offensive boards led to an Elan Wali layup just before the buzzer, bringing it to 34-17 at the half.
• Third Quarter
  • Following a Payahsape score right out of the locker room, LU went on a 12-6 surge as Alexander's three brought the MACU edge down to 42-29 with 6:08 left.
  • The Lady Lions were unable to close their deficit to below 13 over the next few minutes as Abby Bird's bucket brought it back out to a 48-32 contest with 3:58 to go.
  • On the next possession, a Shala Robinson offensive rebound and putback ignited a six-unanswered surge as Taliyah Harris drained a three 3:11 to go to make it a 48-38 game.
  • The Evangels kept LU from knocking the lead down to single-digits as Sydney Wycoff scored MACU's final four points to make it a 54-42 contest heading into the final period.
• Fourth Quarter
  • A pair of Alexander free throws early on brought the Langston deficit back down to 10, but Hernandez started a string of 10 straight as Wycoff's score gave MACU its first 20-point lead at 64-44 with 4:29 left.
  • Alexander scored the next four points for the Lions to bring it back to 64-48, but MACU held Langston scoreless over the final three minutes as an Ozoani free throw with a layup on the Evangels' final possession of the game sealed the 67-48 win.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian, who boasts the eighth-best field goal percentage defense and the top three-point defense in the NAIA frustrated Langston, holding the Lady Lions to just 17-for-60 (28.3 percent) shooting from the field and 3-of-19 (15.8 percent) from behind the arc.
• The Evangels finished the game with 39.7 percent (25-for-63) shooting clip while knocking down 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from downtown.
• Both teams were dead even at 13 turnovers apiece while the Evangels controlled the glass by a 46-to-36 margin.
• Senior forward Ossyana Ozoani continued to have Langston's number in the low-post, notching her 14^th double-double of the season with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 6-for-8 from the charity stripe to go with 16 rebounds. Back on Jan. 15, Ozoani just missed tying D'Shala Culberson's NAIA Era (2007-present) single game rebounds record when she pulled down 19 boards in the victory.
• With Ozoani's 16^th board of the game, she became just the second player in the NAIA Era to reach 300 rebounds in a season. The 5-10 forward needs just five more boards to surpass Karina Trindade's 2008-2009 single season mark.
• Anna Kash led the scoring efforts coming off the MACU bench, scoring 19 points on 7-of-16 from the field, including going 5-for-8 from the three-point arc.
• Sydney Wycoff and Presley Payahsape rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points apiece as Wycoff shot an efficient 4-for-6 from the field while Payahsape knocked down 5-of-10 shot attempts.
• Mid-America Christian sweeps the season series against Langston after picking up a 78-59 win over the Lady Lions inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Jan. 15.
• The win allowed the Evangels to surpass the 2018-19 NCCAA National Championship team for the most victories recorded in a single season during the NAIA Era. The Evangels finished that campaign with a 25-9 record after topping Brewton-Parker in a thrilling 87-84 win in the championship game Mar. 16, 2019 in Winona Lake, Ind.
• At the conclusion of the regular season, the Evangels finished with a 19-3 Sooner Athletic Conference record to just narrowly miss sharing the conference title with No. 10 Wayland Baptist for the second straight year.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for SAC Tournament play as the Evangels will host a quarterfinal matchup inside the Gaulke Activity Center at 6 p.m. on Feb. 24. MACU will take on the winner of No. 7 seed Oklahoma City and 10^th-seeded UNT Dallas, who will play in the Opening Round game on Tuesday, Feb. 22.