OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off a tough loss on the road at Texas Wesleyan on Monday, the No. 25 MACU women's basketball team got back on-track in a big way inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night as the Evangels outscored UNT-Dallas 26-15 in the fourth quarter to run away with an 89-70 victory for the team's first in the new year.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Jaci Littell – 34 Points, 9-19 FG, 6-11 3FG, 10-12 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Assists
- Shy Christopher – 15 Points, 5-12 FG, 5-8 FT, 7 Reb, 4 Assists, 2 Steals
- Kyleigh Leverich – 8 Points, 3-8 FG, 5 Assists, 4 Reb, 2 Steals
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- Mid-America Christian (11-3, 5-3 SAC) struggled on the offensive end through the first four minutes as a Whitney Outon foul shot was MACU's lone point. UNT-Dallas (8-3, 6-3 SAC) jumped out to an 8-1 lead as Alyssa Pendley hit a shot clock buzzer-beating jumper from the foul line with 6:13 to go.
- The Evangels grabbed the momentum following a pair of Tyaija Coleman free throws on the ensuing possession as MACU rattled off nine-unanswered behind an Aneli Thomsen jumper and a Kyleigh Leverich three-ball before Jaci Littell converted a fastbreak layup with just under four minutes left to give MACU its first lead of the contest at 10-8.
- Two possessions later, UNTD's top scorer Zyunn Cormier tied it back up on a fastbreak lay-in off a defensive board, but the Trailblazers would be unable to take back the lead within the period.
- With 3:05 left, Alexis Borgstadt got a three-ball from the left wing to bounce off the front iron and in to ignite a dominant 12-2 run to close out the quarter. To wrap-up the period, Leverich intercepted a pass at the top of the key and went coast-to-coast for the fastbreak layup with two seconds left to make it a 22-12 game.
- Second Quarter
- The MACU defense kept the Trailblazers off the board through the first two minutes as layups from Sydney Savage and Shy Christopher pushed the Evangels advantage out to 26-12 with 8:33 on the clock.
- With the Evangels holding a 13-point lead with four minutes remaining, a Kayla James triple from the left wing with 3:48 to go started a 15-2 Trailblazers run that consisted of five three-pointers, four of which came from Cormier. With 1:26 left, Cormier buried a 25-foot triple with a hand in her face from the right wing to tie the game up at 31-all.
- However, the Evangels were able to finish the quarter on a strong note by scoring five of the final six points. With five seconds left, Christopher knocked down the front end of a pair of free throws, but Leverich came up with a huge offensive rebound on the second shot to give MACU one last chance. With three seconds on the clock, Leverich found Christopher cutting down the right side on baseline in-bound pass and hit a floater at the buzzer to send the Evangels into half with the 36-32 lead.
- Third Quarter
- On MACU's second possession of the period, some great ball movement around the horn led to a wide-open Outon three from the left wing, propelling the Evangels to a 39-32 lead within the first minute.
- With just under eight minutes remaining, UNTD's James ripped down an offensive board off a couple of deflections before finishing off a three-point play with a left-handed layup, jumpstarting an 8-2 Trailblazers run, closing the gap to 43-42 with 6:51 to go on a Cormier pull-up jumper at the foul line.
- The Evangels managed to keep UNT-Dallas from climbing any closer the next three minutes, but back-to-back buckets from Morgan Strawder tied the game back up at 50 with 3:51 left.
- With 3:22 on the clock, Leverich came up with a momentum turning play when she blocked Cormier's shot from the left elbow before sending an outlet to Christopher on the fastbreak. Driving in from the left side, Christopher scored the layup and drew the foul to give MACU the lead for the rest of the contest.
- A pair of Payne free throws with just under a three minutes left knocked it back down to a one-point game at 53-52, but Littell's layup on the following possession ignited a 10-3 Evangels run, eight of which coming from Littell with two threes to make it a 63-55 MACU lead going into the fourth.
- Fourth Quarter
- An offensive board and putback by Cormier on UNT-Dallas' first possession knocked the MACU edge down to two possessions, but a Littell three from the left wing on MACU's first possession jumpstarted an incredible 17-3 run with the junior guard scoring 14 of MACU's points during the streak. The Stillwater, Okla. knocked down four threes and buried a pair of free throws before Christopher capped the run by driving down the left baseline and converting another three-point play off a left-handed layup, extending the Evangels edge to 80-60 with 5:55 left.
- The Trailblazers scored the next five to cut into the MACU advantage, but the Evangels swung back with six unanswered of their own as Ashley Hopper's offensive board and putback gave MACU its largest lead of the contest at 86-65 at the 1:48 mark.
- Borgstadt wrapped up the MACU scoring with another offensive rebound and tap-back before UNTD's Kaylin Minor got a layup to fall on the Trailblazers final possession to close out the 89-70 final.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian held a slight shooting advantage over UNT-Dallas as the Evangels shot 27-for-62 (43.5 percent), including 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) while UNT-Dallas finished 27-for-63 (42.9 percent) from the field and 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from range.
- The biggest difference in the game came from MACU's ability to get to the free throw line as the Evangels knocked down 26-for-34 (76.5 percent) while the Trailblazers netted just 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from the stripe.
- MACU put together one of its best offensive halves of the season in the second as the Evangels scored 53 points, shooting 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from the floor and 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from downtown.
- Overall, Mid-America Christian dominated on the rebounding battle, outrebounding UNT-Dallas 53-34 with a 22-14 edge on the offensive glass.
- Facing a feisty UNT-Dallas team that was forcing their opposition to commit 26 turnovers a game, the Evangels were able to take care of the basketball, committing just 14 giveaways while forcing the Trailblazers into 16 miscues.
- Coming off her career-best output against Texas Wesleyan, Jaci Littell once again set new career-high marks by scoring a game-high 34 points on 9-of-19 shooting, went 6-for-11 from three and buried 10-of-12 free throws to go with five boards and three assists.
- Shy Christopher was the only other Evangel to score in double-figures, turning in 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting and went 5-of-8 from the charity stripe while also pulling down a team-leading seven rebounds and also turned in four assists to go with a pair of thefts.
- Overall, the Evangels put together a balanced scoring effort with seven players scoring at least six points as Alexis Borgstadt, Kyleigh Leverich and Whitney Outon each finished with eight points while Tyaija Coleman and Sydney Savage scored six apiece. Leverich also led MACU's distribution efforts with five of the Evangels' 16 assists.
- With the win, MACU improved to 8-1 on its home court this season and have now won all three of its meetings against UNT-Dallas since the two teams started playing each other last season.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will be back on the road on Saturday as the Evangels will head to Waxahachie, Texas to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God. The game is slated to tip-off at 2 p.m. inside the Sheaffer Center.
