DALLAS – The No. 24 MACU women's basketball team blazed the nets with a record three-point shooting performance while making some great adjustments at the break after leading by just four at halftime, outscoring UNT-Dallas 50-24 over the final 20 minutes to run away with an 89-59 victory inside the Trinity Basin Preparatory Athletic Complex on Thursday night.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Jaci Littell – 29 Points, 6-9 FG, 3-3 3FG, 14-15 FT, 4 Steals
- Aneli Thomsen – 16 Points, 5-8 FG, 3-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Assists
- Shy Christopher – 11 Points, 5-16 FG, 7 Reb
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- UNT-Dallas (10-11, 8-11 SAC) held the early momentum as MACU converted just one of its first four shot attempts while tallying four early turnovers as Zyunn Cormier's jumper with 5:38 to go gave the Trailblazers the 10-6 edge.
- Whitney Outon propelled Mid-America Christian (21-4, 15-4 SAC) to a nine-unanswered run with seven-straight points before a pair of Jaci Littell foul shots made it a 15-10 Evangels advantage with 3:33 remaining.
- The Trailblazers managed to briefly close it to a one-point game but the Evangels scored the final three as Shy Christopher banked in a tightly contested pull-up jumper from the foul line with 1:18 left to send MACU into the second with an 18-14 edge.
- Second Quarter
- Sydney Wycoff scored four quick points to open the second period, but the Trailblazers scratched their way back with six straight to close it to a 22-20 game with seven and a half minutes left.
- The two teams traded blows over the next two minutes as Aneli Thomsen's corner three stretched it to a 29-24 edge before UNT-Dallas swung back with six-unanswered with Nylah Mundy's layup giving UNTD its last lead of the game at 31-30 with 3:38 to go.
- An emphatic three-point play by Tyaija Coleman on the ensuing possession reinvigorated the Evangels just before the break as MACU scored 10 of the last 15 points to close out the half, heading into the locker room with a 39-35 advantage.
- Third Quarter
- After Cormier knocked down a jumper to end a two-minute scoreless streak for both teams, Thomsen scored five straight MACU points to jumpstart a 12-2 Evangels surge as back-to-back Christopher buckets stretched the lead to 51-39 at the 5:14 mark.
- A Morgan Strawder lay-in with 3:38 remaining would be the last time the Trailblazers would close it to single-digits at 54-45 as the Evangels wrapped up the period by scoring 11 of the final 17 points to hold a 65-51 edge at the end of three.
- Fourth Quarter
- The Mid-America Christian defense held UNTD scoreless for the first three-and-a-half minutes as the Evangels tallied nine in a row, capped off on an Ashley Hopper offensive board and putback to bring it to a 74-51 contest with 6:55 left.
- A long Morgan Ashmore three briefly cut it to 78-58 with 4:30 remaining, but MACU closed out the contest by scoring 11 of the final 12 points as Ainsley Velasquez's three-bomb at the 51 second mark sealed the 89-59 final.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian finished the contest by shooting 26-for-53 (49.1 percent) from the field and converted on 27-of-33 (81.8 percent) from the free throw line while the defense held UNT-Dallas to only 25-for-66 (37.9 percent) from the floor and 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) while the Trailblazers also struggled from the stripe at 6-for-13 (46.2 percent).
- The Evangels broke a new NAIA Era (2007-present) record with its three-point shooting in the contest, as MACU converted on 71.4 percent of its three-point tries by going 10-for-14 from downtown. The outing shattered the previous mark when the Evangels knocked down 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) at Huston-Tillotson (Texas) back on Nov. 9, 2019.
- While the two teams were dead even in the turnover battle at 18 apiece, the Evangels dominated the glass by a 42-31 margin.
- Jaci Littell put together one of the best shooting performances of her MACU career, scoring a game-high 29 points on 6-of-9 from the floor and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the three-point. Littell also found herself in the MACU record books as she converted on 14-of-15 free throw attempts, trying Sarai Rodriguez (2016, 2017) and Jamie Lamb (2017) for the second-most made foul shots in a game in the NAIA Era while the 15 attempts also ranks as the fifth-most tries in one contest.
- Littell was imposing on both ends of the floor as she also finished with a game and career-high four steals.
- Aneli Thomsen narrowly missed matching her career-high scoring output as she turned in a season-high 16 points on 5-of-8 from the floor, but was also a perfect 3-for-3 from three and converted 3-of-4 free throws to go with four boards and a pair of assists.
- Despite a cold shooting night for the star guard, Shy Christopher still managed to finish in double-figures with 11 points on 5-of-16 attempts while yanking down a team-high seven rebounds.
- Sydney Wycoff led MACU's distribution efforts with four assists and only gave the ball away one time for a sensational assist-turnover ratio. On her first dime of the game, Wycoff became just the third Evangel in the NAIA Era to surpass 300 career assists (303) as well as supplanted Alliyah Spatafora (302, 2013-16) for second in the books in career dimes.
- With the victory, Mid-America Christian has stretched its win streak to eight and has continued to dominate the competition with its seventh 20-plus point victory during the streak. The Evangels also completed the season sweep over the Trailblazers after getting an 89-70 win over UNTD inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 9.
- With the win and No. 19 Science & Arts suffering a 76-66 home loss to Langston, the Evangels have climbed into a tie with the Drovers for second in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings as MACU continues to sit two games back of No. 17 Texas Wesleyan with three games to go in league play.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will return home on Saturday, Feb. 11 as the Evangels will host Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) for Alumni Day inside the Gaulke Activity Center. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. and the Evangels will honor the 2001 NCCAA National Championship team at halftime as well as the 2010s Team of the Decade following the completion of the contest.
