Mid-America Christian University

OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 16 MACU women's basketball team wrapped up the 2023 portion of its schedule on a major high note as a strong second half propelled the Evangels to a 90-75 victory over one of its biggest rivals in Science & Arts inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Jaci Calavan – 30 Points, 10-20 FG, 3-8 3FG, 7-7 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Assists
• Shy Christopher – 24 Points, 10-20 FG, 3-4 FT, 8 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Mia Smith – 11 Points, 3-8 FG, 3-5 3FG, 2-2 FT, 5 Reb, 4 Assists
• Sydney Savage – 10 Points, 4-11 FG, 11 Reb, 3 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • After exchanging the lead a few times following a couple of quick buckets from Alexis Borgstadt, Mid-America Christian (9-1, 3-1 SAC) was able to capture a four-point advantage going into the midway point of the quarter on a pair of Mia Smith three-pointers to make it a 12-8 Evangels' edge with 5:37 left.
  • Science & Arts (7-3, 3-1 SAC) swung back to take the lead following a Diaka Berete jumper and a Lainey Morrow midrange jumper on back-to-back possessions to tie it up before Berete buried one of two from the foul line with three minutes left to make it a 15-14 USAO advantage.
  • The two squads traded the advantage six times over the final three minutes, but a Trinitee Alexander three-point play with 10 seconds left put USAO in-front 20-18 at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • USAO's Crystal Ortiz flipped up a shot from the right side of the paint 10 seconds in to briefly stretch the Drovers' advantage to four, but the Evangels and Drovers went blow-for-blow over the next few minutes as Jaci Calavan scored the next five MACU points between a Devyn Harris three and an Alexander jumper. MACU strung together a 7-0 run soon afterwards as Shy Christopher's three from the top of the key gave the Evangels the lead back before a pair of Calavan foul shots with 7:04 remaining made it 30-27.
  • The Drovers' defense held the Evangels to without a bucket over a three-minute stretch to briefly grab a 31-30 edge back on Morrow's lay-in with 5:51 to go, but MACU's defense reciprocated by scoring seven of the next nine over the next two-and-a-half minutes with two more Calavan foul shots extending the MACU lead to 37-33 with 3:26 on-the-clock.
  • The final three minutes once again proved to be a tug-of-war with the lead changing hands six times, but the Evangels took a 40-38 lead into the halftime break when Smith drove down the lane before kicking it out to a wide-open triple from the top of the arc with 36 seconds to go before Kylee Scheer made a sensational steal off the inbound pass to prevent USAO from getting a potential tying or lead-taking shot off.
• Third Quarter
  • Science & Arts scored a pair of quick buckets in the first minute to briefly capture a two-point edge, but Jordan Bloomfield's putback off of Morrow's offensive board at the 9:18 mark would be the last time the Drovers would lead the contest at 46-44.
  • MACU's defense clamped down on the Drovers, holding USAO to just two points over a 3:21 stretch with the Evangels scoring eight of the next 10 with Smith making another sensational drive-and-dish to Savage for the open layup to stretch the MACU edge to 52-48.
  • Morrow's layup on the ensuing possession trimmed the lead in-half, but the Evangels finally managed to get the first three-possession advantage of the contest around the midway point off of Savage's offensive board and putback before Calavan emphatically finished off a three-point play with a strong take down the right lane to set the score to 57-50 at the 4:34 mark.
  • A Tonijah Fortune fastbreak layup with 3:26 to go briefly cut it to a four-point game, but MACU soon took its first double-digit lead following a 9-1 run capped off on another Savage right-handed layup with just over a minute left to make it 68-56.
  • USAO did score five points in the final minute to knock it back down to single-digits, but the Evangels extended it to 10 points once again at the end when Christopher powered in a layup and drew a foul with 0.8 seconds left, knocking down the free throw to complete the three-point play to set the score to 71-61 at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • The first four minutes were a defensive struggle as another Christopher three-point play followed by the junior guard knocking down one-of-two from the stripe was the only scoring through the first couple of minutes before the Drovers made another push to bring it down to a single-digit deficit on a Berete three and a Polk midrange jumper to set the score to 75-66 with 7:07 left.
  • The biggest turning point of the game came off a massive defensive play by Smith when USAO's Berete got on the run to look like would be an easy fastbreak layup, but the quick hands of Smith picked her pocket as she was going up for the lay-in, allowing a quick relay from Calavan to Christopher on a fastbreak score the other way. That play jumpstarted a dominant 14-2 run that Smith capped off herself with another triple with three minutes to go, giving MACU its largest advantage of the contest at 89-68.
  • The Drovers managed to outscore MACU 7-1 over the final three minutes, but it was too little, too late as MACU came away with the 90-75 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was highly efficient in all facets of the offensive end, finishing the contest 32-of-71 (45.1 percent) from the floor, going 8-for-20 (40 percent) from the three-point arc and buried 18-for-22 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe. Science & Arts also put together an offensively efficient game by shooting 31-for-66 (47 percent), but the Drovers struggled from three, shooting just 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) and converted only 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) from the line.
• The floor game played a big factor in the result as MACU outrebounded the Drovers 45-37, including 15-10 on the offensive glass while the Evangels committed just 11 turnovers to 16 giveaways by the Drovers.
• There were 18 lead changes between MACU and USAO in the first half while the lead exchanged hands just twice in the second half, coming in the first two minutes of the third quarter.
• Jaci Calavan led MACU on the offensive end with her second 30-plus point performance of the season, scoring her game-high 30 points on 10-of-20 shooting, going 3-for-8 from three and knocked down 7-of-7 from the stripe to go with six boards and four assists. By remaining perfect at the line, Calavan has made her first 43 free throw attempts of the season.
• After being held to just two points through the first quarter, Shy Christopher came up big over the next three periods to finish with 24 points on 10-for-20 from the field and 3-for-4 from the stripe to go with eight rebounds, a pair of assists and two steals.
• For the first time in her Evangels career, freshman guard Mia Smith finished in double-figures with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the three-point arc and 2-for-2 from the line to go with five boards and tying a team-high four assists.
• For the second time this season, Sydney Savage recorded a double-double, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds and a team-best three steals on the defensive end.
• After trading the last eight meetings coming in, Mid-America Christian has now won the last two matchups against the Drovers while avenging a 74-63 defeat to USAO the last time the two teams met inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Dec. 8, 2022.
• The win for the Evangels moved MACU into a four-way tie for second in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings at 3-1 with the Drovers, Langston and Wayland Baptist.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will have a 24-day layoff for the Christmas break before returning home on Thursday, Jan. 4 for another pivotal SAC matchup against Langston. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.