OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU women's basketball team outscored John Brown 25-10 in the first quarter and held off a late John Brown surge as the Evangels came away with a 71-60 victory inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Jaci Littell – 18 Points, 6-12 3FG, 3 Steals, 2 Reb
- Whitney Outon – 15 Points, 6-12 FG, 2-4 FT, 9 Reb, 3 Steals
- Sydney Wycoff – 7 Points, 2-5 FG, 3-4 FT, 6 Assists, 5 Reb
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- After MACU's Jaci Littell and JBU's Natalie Smith traded threes on back-to-back possession to make it a 5-5 game, Littell ignited a 15-unanswered run with a three from the top of the key with just over eight minutes to go on the handoff from Sydney Wycoff. Aneli Thomsen scored seven points during the streak before Whitney Outon capped it with a left-wing three off Thomsen's cross-court assist to make it a 20-5 Mid-America Christian (13-3, 7-3 SAC) with 5:14 left.
- Tarrah Stephens finally ended the John Brown (11-5, 5-5 SAC) drought with a layup with just under five minutes remaining, but Littell's third three-bomb of the quarter pushed the MACU edge out to 23-7 at the 4:09 mark.
- Both teams went cold over the next three minutes as neither team could find a score until Graci Harris buried a contested three from the left wing with just over a minute left.
- Outon wrapped up a phenomenal opening period with an open left-handed layup off a great lob from the top of the key from Alexis Borgtadt on MACU's final possession at the 19 second mark to take a 25-10 advantage into the second quarter.
- Second Quarter
- The SAC's top three-point shooter Maci Mains gave the Golden Eagles some early momentum with a trio of three-pointers on JBU's first three possessions to close it to a 27-19 game with 8:34 on the clock.
- Two possessions later, Littell stemmed the tide for MACU as the Evangels knocked down consecutive threes as Kyleigh Leverich's right-wing triple on Littell's left-wing swing pushed the MACU edge back out to 33-19 at the 6:43 mark.
- The Evangels had answers for the next two JBU buckets as Outon's layup and Littell's fifth three of the half kept the Evangels' advantage at 38-24 with 4:49 left.
- Despite the high-scoring affair, both teams went stone cold over the final 4:48 as neither team mustered a score before the halftime break.
- Third Quarter
- Stephens scored the first three points for JBU out of the half, but Thomsen found herself wide open for a three at the top of the key with 7:50 to go before Shy Christopher picked up a quick steal on a press out of a time to stretch the MACU lead back out to 43-27 with 7:42 remaining.
- John Brown immediately countered with five straight off an Emily Sanders triple and a Stephens bucket with 6:41 left, but MACU swung back with six straight of its own. A Christopher foul shot and a Wycoff steal and score led up to Littell draining her sixth three-pointer of the night from the left corner off Outon's quick find to bring the score to 49-32 with 4:31 on the clock.
- The Golden Eagles were unable to cut into the MACU advantage as the Evangels pushed it out to a 19-point edge off two straight scores from Tyaija Coleman within the final two minutes, but Mains gave JBU some momentum going into the fourth with a deep three from the right wing at the 41 second mark to make it a 55-39 game.
- Fourth Quarter
- JBU briefly brought it down to 14 on a Harris layup within the first minute, but Mid-America Christian built its largest lead of the contest as a Coleman layup and a Borgstadt three-point play led up to Outon putting an open short jumper off a strong Borgstadt drive and dish down the left baseline, setting the score to 62-41 with 7:35 to go.
- Mid-America Christian struggled offensively as the Evangels went on a 5:05 scoring drought as John Brown scored 11-unanswered points to close the gap to 62-52 on a Stephens lay-in with 3:33 left.
- Outon finally snapped the MACU scoring drought at the 2:30 mark with a left-handed lay-in off a nice Christopher drive and dish, but JBU's Lisa Vanoverburghe nailed a three on the ensuing possession to give the Golden Eagles their first single-digit deficit since the second quarter with a three-ball from the left wing with 2:10 to go to make it a 64-55 game.
- Two possessions later, a batted ball by Outon led to a fastbreak layup for Christopher to briefly push the MACU advantage back to double-digits, but Stephens once again brought it back to single-figures on a short jumper with 57 seconds left to make it a 66-57 contest.
- The Evangels took care of business from the foul line in the final minute as Wycoff and Outon combined to go 5-for-6 while an Emily Sanders three was the lone score for the Golden Eagles as MACU held on for the 71-60 victory.
TEAM NOTES
- Mid-America Christian finished the contest by shooting 26-for-62 (41.9 percent) from the field and 10-of-27 (37 percent) from the three-point arc while John Brown shot 23-for-54 (42.6 percent) with an 11-of-28 (39.3 percent) mark from three.
- With limited opportunities for both teams from the foul line, MACU outshot the Golden Eagles by going 9-for-13 (69.2 percent) from the line while JBU converted a season-low 3-of-5 (60 percent) from the charity stripe.
- The Evangels dominated the turnover battle, forcing John Brown into 19 giveaways while MACU turned in a season-low 10 turnovers. MACU was opportunistic in its takeaways as the Evangels finished with a 25-12 discrepancy in points off turnovers.
- Despite being held to just three points in the second half, Jaci Littell led the MACU offensive efforts with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting, which included going 6-for-12 from downtown to go along with three steals.
- Whitney Outon narrowly missed a double-double by closing out with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and finished with a team-high nine rebounds and three steals.
- Aneli Thomsen was the only other Evangel to finish in double-figures, turning in 10 points on 4-of-7 from the field, including 2-for-3 from range.
- MACU's leading scorer Shy Christopher was held mostly in-check, narrowly missing breaking into double-digits with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting and went 3-for-4 from the stripe, but turned in a solid floor game with five boards and a pair of assists.
- Sydney Wycoff led the MACU distribution efforts with a season-high six assists to go with seven points and five rebounds
- With the victory, Mid-America Christian has now won six of the last seven games in the series from John Brown as well as have defeated the Golden Eagles on their home court in five straight contests.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will close out the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play on Saturday as the Evangels will head to El Reno, Okla. to take on Oklahoma City at 2 p.m. Due to floor damage from a water main break in Abe Lemons Arena during Christmas break, the game has been moved to Redlands Community College.
