GOODWELL, Okla. – The No. 16 MACU women's basketball team bounced back from its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon inside Anchor D Arena as a dominant first half propelled the Evangels to a 77-46 victory at Oklahoma Panhandle State.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Ashley Hopper – 17 Points, 8-12 FG, 6 Reb
• Jaci Calavan – 14 Points, 4-13 FG, 2-5 3FG, 4-4 FT, 6 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Shy Christopher – 11 Points, 3-7 FG, 7 Assists, 6 Reb, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Both teams struggled to find an offensive stride in the first quarter as Oklahoma Panhandle State (0-4, 0-2 SAC) scored the first bucket at the 7:50 mark on a Diana Santos offensive rebound and layup.
  • Mia Smith put Mid-America Christian (7-1, 1-1 SAC) in-front after converting her first free throw and then rebounding her own miss and putting it back in with 7:34 left, jumpstarting an 8-2 Evangels surge finished off on Jaci Calavan's triple from the right wing with 6:09 left to set the score to 8-4.
  • The Aggies managed to close the gap to two twice, the last coming on a Molly Jones three with 4:15 remaining.
  • Mid-America Christian put together an offensive onslaught over the final four minutes, outscoring the Aggies 15-2 as a pair of Calavan free throws with 3.5 seconds to go gave MACU the 26-11 advantage heading into the second.
• Second Quarter
  • MACU's defense clamped down on the Aggies through the first 3:10 of the period as the Evangels opened with seven unanswered capped off on Ashley Hopper's offensive board and put-back to make it 33-11 with just under seven minutes to go.
  • Following Ashley Aughterson's layup at the 6:49 mark, both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm as neither team scored a field goal until Kylee Scheer buried a three from the right corner off Smith's drive-and-dish to make it 37-13 with 4:13 left.
  • Julia Pacheco's offensive board and layup on the ensuing possession would be the last OPSU score in the half as the Evangels closed out by scoring the final eight off two more Scheer threes and Karley Miller's left elbow jumper with 54 seconds remaining to make it a 45-15 game at the half.
• Third Quarter
  • The Evangels defense continued to stifle Panhandle in the third period, holding OPSU to just two points through the first six minutes as Shy Christopher and Hopper combined to score all 11 of MACU's points with Christopher burying a pair of free throws with four minutes left to make it 56-17.
  • After Mariah Williams knocked down a pair of throws at the 3:40 mark to snap OPSU's cold streak, Miller gave MACU its largest lead of the game with just over three minutes remaining by draining a left corner three off a drive and dish by Calavan, setting the score to 59-19.
  • MACU went cold over the final three minutes as the Evangels were held scoreless as a Williams free throw and a Jones three closed it to 59-23 heading into the fourth.
• Fourth Quarter
  • After Hallie Reed knocked down a wide-open right corner three on Kayla Highfill's inbound pass on MACU's first possession of the period, Oklahoma Panhandle State managed to chisel the lead down to 66-33 with just under seven to go off a 10-4 run that featured a trio of three-pointers from Jamiah Clay, Williams and Jones.
  • On the ensuing possession, Reed drained a three from the top of the key off Sydney Adee's drive and kickout before Savage boarded Reed's missed longball on the following possession and put it back in to set the score to 71-33 at the 5:34 mark.
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State could only reduce the MACU advantage down to as little as 31 the rest of the way as the Evangels held on for the 77-46 road victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian had a relatively rough outing offensively, shooting just 28-for-77 (36.4 percent) from the field, but did convert well from range by knocking down 10-of-27 (37 percent) from three and shot an efficient 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the foul line.
• For the fourth time this season, MACU's dominant defense held an opponent to fewer than 50 points as Oklahoma Panhandle State shot just 17-for-71 (23.9 percent) from the floor, 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) from three and only made 6-for-10 (60 percent) from the line.
• The Evangels held a 56-46 edge on the glass and put together a stellar floor game with 20 assists to just six turnovers while the Aggies recorded just seven assists and 15 giveaways. The six Evangel turnovers was the fewest MACU had given away in a game since an 89-68 win at Central Christian on Jan. 19, 2019 where MACU lost the ball just five times.
• Bench scoring played a major factor in the result as MACU's bench outscored OPSU's 38-14.
• Of the bench players that stepped up for MACU, Ashley Hopper led all scorers with a career-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go with six rebounds while Karley Miller also tallied 10 off the bench to go with a team-high eight boards.
• Of MACU's starters, Jaci Calavan paced the Evangels with 14 points and while she struggled on 4-of-13 from the floor, Calavan converted 2-for-5 from range and buried all four of her free throw attempts to go with five boards, three assists and two steals.
• Shy Christopher led MACU's distribution efforts with a career-high seven assists and just one turnovers while scoring 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting and 5-for-6 from the foul line. Christopher also yanked down six rebounds and tallied a pair of steals.
• With the victory, the Evangels have now won 10 straight games against the Aggies.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up its three-game road swing on Thursday, Dec. 7 as the Evangels will travel to Fort Worth, Texas for a 6 p.m. tip-off against Texas Wesleyan inside the Sid Richardson Center.