OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 19 MACU women's basketball team opened its 2023-24 season firing on all cylinders offensively and defensively in its season-opener on Friday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center as the Evangels ran away with a 128-40 victory over Dallas Christian in the Homecoming matchup.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 27 Points, 11-14 FG, 2-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 6 Reb
• Kylee Scheer – 21 Points, 8-11 FG, 3-5 3FG, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Steals, 3 Assists
• Jaci Calavan – 15 Points, 6-13 FG, 3-6 3FG, 7 Reb, 6 Assists
• Mia Smith – 10 Assists, 3 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian opened the contest by scoring the first 12 points, 10 of which coming from MACU's two All-SAC performers from last season as Shy Christopher buried a three from the right corner to make it a 12-0 game at the 7:06 mark.
  • The Evangels' stifling defense held the Crusaders to just one field goal over the final 5:20, outscoring DCC 17-2 during that stretch as Karley Miller's fastbreak layup just before the buzzer made it a 36-9 game entering the second period.
• Second Quarter
  • Dallas Christian opened the second with an Erin Byrd layup, but the Evangels continued to overwhelm the Crusaders after conceding the opening score as MACU rattled off 21 unanswered points. Kylee Scheer capped the run for MACU by draining a three-ball from the right corner off a cross-court Mia Smith pass, setting the score to 56-11 with 4:34 remaining.
  • The Crusaders started to get some offensive traction in the final four minutes, doubling their point output up to that point, but DCC was unable to put any sort of dent in the Evangels' overwhelming advantage as Scheer drained a dagger three from the right wing just before the halftime buzzer sounded to send MACU into the break with the 67-22 cushion.
• Third Quarter
  • MACU's momentum carried over in a big way in the third quarter as the Evangels held Dallas Christian scoreless over the first seven minutes. During that seven-minute stretch, the Evangels rattled off 26-unanswered points as freshman guard Sydney Adee buried her first career three from the right corner with 3:10 to go, wrapping up the Evangels run at 93-22.
  • For the third straight quarter, the Evangels managed to beat the buzzer when Ainsley Velasquez pulled down a Miller three that was left short and flipped it up and in just before the buzzer sounded to send MACU into the final quarter with a 101-28 cushion.
• Fourth Quarter
  • A Miller three and Christopher fastbreak layup in the first minute gave MACU its first 80-point lead of the contest at 108-28.
  • Mid-America Christian continued to cruise away over the course of the quarter as a pair of Miller foul shots with 36 seconds left wrapped up the 128-40 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian's offense was blistering hot from the field, finishing 54-for-85 (63.5 percent) from the floor, 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from three and 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) from the foul stripe while the Evangels defense held Dallas Christian to just 14-for-19 (28.6 percent) shooting, including 4-of-27 (14.8 percent) from downtown.
• The Evangels dominated the glass, outrebounding the Crusaders 56-19, including 23-7 on the offensive glass. Meanwhile, the rebounding for MACU was balanced across the board as no one player cracked into double-digits as Jaci Calavan and Ashley Hopper shared the board lead with seven each.
• On-top of great shooting, MACU's floor game was downright incredible as MACU tallied 32 assists to just nine turnovers while the Crusaders mustered just eight assists while giving the ball away 26 times. In her first career game as an Evangel, Mia Smith dished out 10 assists with a stellar 5-to-1 assist-turnover ratio while Calavan was also impressive in the passing efforts with six assists and only one giveaway to go with her 15 points.
• Shy Christopher led six Evangels into double-figure scoring, dropping a game-high 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting while pulling down six boards.
• Kylee Scheer impressed in her MACU debut, dropping 21 points on 8-of-11 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three to go with six rebounds and a game-high four steals.
• Sydney Savage finished with 16 points on a very efficient 8-of-11 shooting while Karley Miller and Sydney Adee also turned in double-digit efforts in their MACU debuts with 14 and 11 points respectively.
• With the victory, Mid-America Christian improved to 15-0 all-time against Dallas Christian as the game marked the two teams' first meeting in the past five seasons. The win also marked MACU's eighth consecutive win in its season-opener.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will face its first tough test of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 8 as the Evangels will host a very solid Ave Maria (Fla.) program for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.