OKLAHOMA CITY – Facing a national powerhouse Wayland Baptist program, the MACU women's basketball team put together its most dominant performance ever against the Flying Queens as the Evangels cruised to a 96-68 victory on Thursday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Jaci Littell – 21 Points, 6-10 FG, 8-8 FT, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
- Shy Christopher – 20 Points, 8-12 FG, 4-5 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Assists
- Aneli Thomsen – 15 Points, 5-7 FG, 3-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Assists
- Whitney Outon – 14 Points, 6-10 FG, 5 Reb, 3 Assists
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- It was a back-and-forth battle through the first two minutes before Aneli Thomsen buried a three from the right corner off a stellar drive and dish by Jaci Littell before Littell poked it away from Kaitlyn Edgemon, allowing Thomsen to relay it to Shy Christopher on the fastbreak and-one with 7:38 left to give Mid-America Christian (17-4, 11-4 SAC) an 11-5 lead.
- Two possessions later, Wayland Baptist (12-8, 8-6 SAC) cut it to a four-point game on a Jenna Cooper-Jackson jumper, but MACU countered with a 9-1 run featuring a pair of Littell buckets before Sydney Wycoff drained an open triple from the right corner from Whitney Outon's assist, expanding the Evangels' edge to 20-8 with just over four minutes to go.
- The Flying Queens were unable to cut their deficit below double-digits for the rest of the quarter MACU scored the final three points in the last minute off a trio of Christopher free throws to carry a 25-12 advantage into the second.
- Second Quarter
- Early in the second quarter, WBU's Taylor Houston put together a personal five-unanswered run with a fastbreak lay-in and a three-point play with 6:24 left to trim it to a 29-22 game.
- MACU continued to pull away over the course of the quarter as the Evangels eventually worked their lead out to 15 following a string of five-straight off an Alexis Borgstadt layup and a Outon lay-in off a Tyaija Coleman dish to break the press, bringing it to 44-29 with 1:23 left.
- Jenna Cooper-Jackson knocked down a pair from the line on the ensuing possession but that would be WBU's last points of the half as two Littell free throws with 35 seconds remaining sent MACU into the break with a 46-31 advantage.
- Third Quarter
- After starting off the contest strong, Thomsen provided the spark for MACU coming out of the locker room as the graduate student forward poured in seven points in a 13-4 surge over the first three minutes. Thomsen buried a pair from the stripe at the 7:05 mark to stretch it to 59-35.
- The Evangels went cold over the next three minutes as the Flying Queens rattled off seven-unanswered to close it to 59-42 on Ellie Bruffey's long three from the right wing with 4:40 left.
- MACU scored seven of the next nine as Outon knocked down a three from the top of the key trailing on the fastbreak off Wycoff's drop-back pass, pushing the Evangels lead back out to 66-44 with 3:11 to go.
- WBU was only briefly able to knock the MACU edge below 20 briefly over the rest of the quarter on an Edgemon three-pointer, but Christopher beat the shot clock with a strong drive down the left lane before getting the finish with nine seconds left to make it a 70-49 game after three.
- Fourth Quarter
- Christopher opened the final period with a quick layup, but Wayland Baptist mustered six-unanswered over the next two minutes as another Edgemon midrange jumper closed it to a 72-55 game with 7:28 to go.
- The Evangels scored seven of the next nine to push their lead back out to 79-57 on a Hallie Reed three-point bomb from the left wing off a cross-court pass from Wycoff, but the Queens immediately answered with a 9-4 run of their own as Taryn Schultz buried a three with 3:43 left to set the score to 83-66.
- A quick Outon fastbreak lay-in ignited a stellar finish for MACU as the Evangels closed out the contest with a 13-2 run capped off on an Ainsley Velasquez three-pointer from the left wing to seal the 96-68 final.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian turned in its best shooting performance of the season as the Evangels shot 35-for-59 (59.3 percent) from the field, 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from three-point range and 17-for-19 (89.5 percent) from the stripe.
- Despite coming up on the losing end, Wayland Baptist shot well from the field, knocking down 26-for-59 (44.1 percent), but were only able to convert 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from three and 8-for-10 (80 percent) from the line.
- Facing a Flying Queens team that averages 41.7 rebounds per game, the Evangels dominated Wayland Baptist on the glass, holding WBU to a season-low 20 boards while MACU ripped down 41, including 13 on the offensive end and 15 team rebounds.
- Four Evangels scored into double-figures, as Jaci Littell scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe while Shy Christopher also turned in 20 points on 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the line.
- After being held to just three double-digit scoring games through the first 19 games of the season, Aneli Thomsen has reached double-figures in back-to-back games now, scoring a season-high 15 on 5-for-7 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from the arc and 2-for-2 from the line.
- Whitney Outon rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points on 6-of-10 from the field go with a team-high five boards and three assists.
- Sydney Wycoff produced a stellar floor game behind her seven points on 3-of-5 shooting as she dished out a game-high six assists to only three turnovers while pulling down five rebounds.
- Even though the Flying Queens have won 24 of the first 28 games played between the two teams in the all-time series, MACU has now won two of the last three meetings after coming away with an 83-74 victory inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 20, 2022. The only WBU win since that contest came on Dec. 3, 2022 when Edgemon hit a buzzer-beater to steal a 55-54 win in Plainview.
- The 28-point margin of victory was also MACU's largest ever against the Flying Queens as their previous best win came on Jan. 24, 2019 inside the Gaulke Activity Center as MACU pulled away with the 85-66 victory.
- After suffering a heartbreaking defeat to Oklahoma City on Jan. 14, the Evangels have been downright dominant during their four-game winning streak as MACU has been outscoring its opponents by 32.0 points per game.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will wrap-up its three-game home stand on Saturday, Jan. 28 as the Evangels will host Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
