OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU women's basketball team dominated crosstown rival Southwestern Christian 79-50 inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday night to open the second half of Sooner Athletic Conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Jaci Littell – 20 Points, 6-11 FG, 4-7 3FG, 4-4 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Steals, 2 Assists
- Shy Christopher – 17 Points, 7-9 FG, 3-4 FT, 3 Assists
- Whitney Outon – 11 Points, 5-8 FG, 7 Reb
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- SCU's Tresha Yager knocked down a three-pointer right out of the gate, but Shy Christopher followed it up with layups on back-to-back possessions before Jaci Littell knocked down a pair free throws with 8:11 to go to give Mid-America Christian (14-4, 8-4 SAC) the 6-3 lead.
- MJ Case and Christina Jenkins scored the next four for Southwestern Christian (8-9, 6-6 SAC) to briefly put the Eagles back in-front, but Sydney Wycoff's strong take to the basket on the ensuing possession ignited a six-straight streak for MACU as Whitney Outon's put-back with just under four minutes left pushed the Evangels' edge to 12-7.
- Southwestern Christian scored six of the next eight, closing it to a one-point game on a pair of Jenkins free throws with 51 seconds to go, but Littell buried a three from the right wing off a kick from the right elbow from Sydney Savage on the Evangels' final possession of the quarter to push the MACU advantage to 17-13 after one.
- Second Quarter
- SCU's Delaney Reimer cashed in from downtown at the 9:47 mark to open things up in the second quarter, but the Evangels defense would clamp down on Southwestern Christian as the Eagles were held scoreless over the next five minutes.
- On the following possession, Christopher would make a spectacular three-point play after getting the offensive rebound and the putback to help ignite the Evangels offense. The Evangels strung together 15 unanswered points as a pair of Outon layups and two Littell three-point bombs sandwiched a Tyaija Coleman layup to double-up the MACU lead to 32-16 with 4:43 remaining.
- After a Yager three finally ended the 5:12 scoring drought, SCU swung back with nine unanswered as a Yager theft led to a Jaden Mason transition layup to close the gap to 32-25 with two-and-a-half left.
- Going scoreless over a 2:41 stretch, Littell broke the drought with a strong take to the basket, starting a 10-0 run to end the quarter. Wycoff converted a three-point play before Littell scored her 18th point of the half with her fourth three with 24 seconds left before Coleman finished off the run with a pair of free throws with three seconds left, giving MACU a 42-25 advantage heading into the halftime break.
- Third Quarter
- Southwestern Christian scored four of the first six to start the second half, but Aneli Thomsen's sensational reverse layup with 8:44 left jumpstarted a 12-2 MACU run. Christopher and Outon combined to score 10 of MACU's 12 points during the streak as Outon's three from the top of the key made it a 56-31 Evangels advantage.
- Two straight Jenkins buckets briefly cut it to a 21-point game, but SCU could not slow down the MACU offense as jumpers from Thomsen and Savage started a seven-straight streak as Littell capped the run with a pair of free throws, stretching the Mid-America Christian lead to 63-35 with 2:44 left to play.
- SCU scored eight of the next 10 to close it back to a 22-point game, but Christopher once again gave MACU the momentum to end the quarter with a strong drive from the left wing into the paint before finishing with a right-handed lay-in with three seconds to go to close out the quarter at 67-43.
- Fourth Quarter
- Both teams struggled offensively to start the final period as each team was held to just one field goal through the first three minutes. Alexis Borgstadt opened the scoring at the 9:07 mark with a three-point play before Jenkins hit a jumper with 8:40 to go to bring it to a 70-45 game.
- Christopher's fastbreak bucket with just under seven minutes left stemmed a 9-2 MACU streak that Ashley Hopper finished off with a foul shot with four minutes remaining to give the Evangels its largest lead of the contest at 79-47.
- Southwestern Christian scored the last three points over the final four minutes as the Evangels secured the 79-50 victory.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian was sensational shooting from the field, going 29-for-55 (52.7 percent) despite shooting just 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from three-point range, but the Evangels were also opportunistic from the free throw line, converting on 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) attempts. Meanwhile, Southwestern Christian struggled against the MACU defense, knocking down just 16-of-48 (33.3 percent) from the floor and 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) from three, but buried a respectable 14-of-16 (87.5 percent) from the foul line.
- SCU especially struggled in the fourth quarter as it shot 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from the field and went 0-for-2 from three-point range.
- MACU utilized an incredibly hot-shooting third quarter as MACU knocked down 10-of-14 (71.43 percent) from the floor.
- The Evangels outrebounded the Eagles 38-25 and won the turnover margin by committing 17 to SCU's 23.
- MACU tied a season-high 14 steals, matching its output in its 80-65 win over Evangel (Mo.) in the MACU Classic on Nov. 11.
- Jaci Littell led the Evangels in scoring for the fourth time out of the last six games with 20 points, 18 of which came in the first half. Littell shot 6-for-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from downtown, and was perfect from the charity stripe going 4-for-4 from the line. Littell was MACU's lone spark from the outside as the rest of the team shot just 1-for-12 from range.
- Shy Christopher finished with 17 points while shooting a blazing 7-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe to go with a team-high three dimes.
- Sydney Wycoff once again made her presence felt on the defensive end by getting a season-high four steals.
- Whitney Outon rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while also grabbing seven rebounds.
- Tyaija Coleman led the MACU rebounding efforts with a career-high 10 rebounds, the first double-digit board mark of her career.
- With the victory, Mid-America Christian swept the season series against Southwestern Christian after defeating the Eagles 72-59 inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium on Dec. 13. MACU also continued to hold down its home fort by improving to 10-1 inside the Gaulke Activity Center this season.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will return to the road on Thursday, Jan. 19 as the Evangels will travel to Langston to take on the Lady Lions competing for the first time at home since their gym was flooded during the Christmas break. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside C.F. Gayles Fieldhouse.
