PLAINVIEW, Texas – For the second straight year, the No. 16 MACU women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking buzzer-beating defeat at Wayland Baptist when the Flying Queens' Linda Brice scooped in the last second lay-in, handing the Evangels the 78-76 loss in their Sooner Athletic Conference opener inside the Hutcherson Center on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Kylee Scheer – 20 Points, 8-17 FG, 2-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 10 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Jaci Calavan – 21 Points, 5-14 FG, 10-10 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Assists, 2 Steals
• Shy Christopher – 15 Points, 4-13 FG, 6-6 FT, 9 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Steals
• Karley Miller – 12 Points, 4-9 FG, 2-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (6-1, 0-1 SAC) struggled to find an answer for WBU's Bobbie Fouquet early in the first quarter as the freshman forward buried a trio of three-pointers through the first two-and-a-half minutes to build the Flying Queens lead out to 11-4.
  • Jaci Calavan provided a bulk load of the MACU offense in the first quarter, scoring 11 points in the opening quarter, but Wayland Baptist (4-1, 1-0 SAC) seemed to have an answer from their star guard in Linda Brice as two traded blows as Brice scored five of the next seven to build the WBU lead out to double-digits at 18-8 with 4:35 remaining.
  • Calavan helped cut the MACU deficit in-half with a three-ball and four foul shots over the next three minutes as a 7-2 run closed it to 20-15 on the senior guard's triple from the right wing with 1:50 to go.
  • The Evangels struggled to slow down the Flying Queens over the last few minutes as WBU scored the final eight points to take a 28-13 lead into the second quarter.
• Second Quarter
  • MACU seemed to find more of an offensive rhythm in the second period as an Alexis Borgstadt three from the left wing ignited a 10-6 run finished off a Kylee Scheer three-point bomb to knock the WBU edge down to single-digits at 34-25 with 6:37 left.
  • However, the Evangels offensive spurt came to a screeching halt following the Scheer three as Wayland Baptist countered with a 10-1 run over the next six minutes to double-up the Queens' lead to 44-26 on a Kinga Stachowska three with 3:39 to go.
  • Calavan knocked down a pair of free throws at the 2:22 mark to stop the WBU run, but both teams went ice cold down the last few minutes as WBU took a 44-28 lead into the halftime break.
• Third Quarter
  • Similar to the second period, Mid-America Christian was quickly able to cut into the WBU advantage through the first three minutes as an 8-2 Evangels surge capped off on a Shy Christopher steal off the inbound and easy layup closed it to a 10-point game at 46-36 with 7:18 left.
  • A Linda Brice three-point play only briefly stopped the MACU run, but the Evangels were able to bring the lead down to single-digits following a pair of Scheer fastbreak layups off two steals, setting the score to 49-40 with 5:25 on the clock.
  • Wayland Baptist pushed its advantage back out to double-digits with its last 13-point lead of the game coming with 3:45 to go when Brice hit another three from the top of the key to make it 57-44.
  • Scheer answered with a three of her own on the ensuing possession as MACU closed out the final three-and-a-half minutes with a 13-6 surge finished off on Christopher's buzzer-beating three from the top of the key to make it 64-57 heading into the fourth.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Following a Maria Ghaleb layup on the opening possession, the Evangels were able to cut it down to a one-possession game as Calavan and Ashley Hopper combined for all eight of MACU's points in an 8-2 run as Hopper's foul shots with 6:46 to go set the score to 68-65.
  • Six unanswered points by the Flying Queens nearly pushed the WBU lead back out to double-digits, but MACU's defense held Wayland Baptist silent over a three-minute stretch during a 9-0 run as two Christopher throws with 2:38 left tied it up at 74-74.
  • WBU's Taylor Houston ended the cold spell with a pair of free throws at the 1:27 mark, but Calavan drew it back even at 76 on a spinning layup down the right side of the paint with just over a minute to go.
  • Both teams had multiple chances at a go-ahead score in the final minute, but the last score of the contest came in the final second. After WBU pulled down a rebound following a missed layup by Christopher with 3.1 seconds left, the Flying Queens called a timeout to advance the ball. After the inbound pass to Brice at the top of the key, the guard drove down the left lane and threw up a layup at the buzzer hand the Evangels another heartbreaking buzzer-beater defeat inside the Hutcherson Center at 78-76.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian had its roughest offensive outing of the season, shooting just 23-of-64 (35.9 percent) from the field, including 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) from three, but were able to make up for it from the free throw line by converting 23-of-25 (92.0 percent) of its foul shots. Most of MACU's offensive struggles stemmed from the first half when the Evangels converted just 8-for-31 (25.9 percent) from the floor and 3-of-10 (30 percent) from downtown.
• Overall, Wayland Baptist finished 30-for-80 (37.5 percent) from the field and knocked down 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from the three-point arc.
• For the first time this season, the Evangels were out-rebounded by their opponent as WBU won the glass 44-41 with a 17-13 edge on the offensive end while MACU also committed slightly more turnovers than the Flying Queens at 20-to-18.
• After being held to just five points in the first half, Kylee Scheer poured in 15 points in the second half to help spur the MACU comeback, recording her third double-double of the season with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting to with a team-high 10 rebounds.
• Jaci Calavan led MACU's scoring efforts with 21 points, doing most of her work from the foul line as she shot just 5-for-14 from the field, but a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe to go with six rebounds and a team-high four assists.
• Shy Christopher narrowly missed a double-double, pouring in 15 points on 4-of-13 from the floor, but also shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the line with nine boards and three assists.
• Karley Miller provided a spark off the MACU bench, scoring 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting with a pair of threes to go with three rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
• Mid-America Christian continued to have inauspicious luck inside the Hutcherson Center as the Evangels have lost their 15^th straight game inside the venue. Last season, MACU also lost a heartbreaker last season on Dec. 3, 2022 when WBU's Kaitlyn Edgemon hit a buzzer-beating layup down the right lane to propel the Flying Queens to a 55-54 win.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will look to try to rebound from the heartbreaking defeat on Saturday as the Evangels head up to Goodwell, Oklahoma for a 2 p.m. tip-off against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside Anchor D Arena.