PARK CITY, Kan. – The No. 22 MACU women's basketball team nearly battled back from a late 10-point fourth quarter deficit against No. 20 Sterling in the first round of the NAIA Tournament, but the Evangels were unable to get a potential game-tying three up at the buzzer as the Warriors held off MACU in a 73-70 defeat inside Hartman Arena on Tuesday night.
TOP PERFORMERS
GAME SUMMARY
- First Quarter
- After Sterling (26-5) opened the game with a Karsen Schultz layup right off the tip-off, the Evangels rattled off five in a row on a Jaci Littell layup and Shy Christopher fastbreak layup off a Whitney Outon steal to go with a Sydney Wycoff foul shot to make it 5-2 with 8:14 left.
- A Kali Briar three on the ensuing possession ignited a nine-unanswered Warriors run to take an 11-5 edge with 5:47 to go.
- Following a pair of Wycoff freebies, Sterling scored seven of the next nine to swell the Warriors advantage to 20-9 with 3:14 left off two Faith Martin free throws.
- A Jaci Littell three from the left wing ended the MACU drought, but the Warriors managed to maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the quarter as Sterling held a 26-16 lead at the end of one.
- Second Quarter
- Mid-America Christian (23-7) opened the second quarter with six straight points to close it to a 26-22 game at the 9:05 mark off a pair of Christopher scores and two Kyleigh Leverich free throws.
- After Schultz knocked down a midrange jumper to snap the MACU streak, Leverich buried an open three from the top of key to mark MACU's first single-possession deficit since early in the first quarter at 28-25 with 7:16 left.
- A pair of Sterling scores allowed the Warriors to build back a seven-point lead, but the Evangels once again chipped their way back behind tough defense, closing it to a three-point game once again on a Christopher offensive board and tip-in at the 2:34 mark to make it 34-31.
- Schultz and Christopher traded buckets to keep it to a three-point game, but two Kali Briar free throws with 48 seconds to go allowed the Warriors to take a 38-33 lead into the halftime break.
- Third Quarter
- Sterling opened the second half by scoring four of the first five to push its lead back out to eight, but the Evangels defense held the Warriors scoreless for a 3:32 stretch to close it back to 42-38 on an Alexis Borgstadt layup with 7:40 left.
- Lauren Carmack and Whitney Outon traded two quick layups, but the Warriors found themselves back up by eight off an Evie Gill jumper and a Briar layup with 4:29 to go.
- MACU cut the deficit in half when Littell scooped in a right-handed layup before Ashley Hopper's reverse lay-in closed it to 48-44 with just under three minutes remaining.
- The Warriors defense held MACU in-check the remainder of the period as Sterling slowly built it back to an eight-point advantage before Christopher buried a fall-away midrange jumper from the right side with seven seconds left to make it a 52-46 game going into the final 10 minutes.
- Fourth Quarter
- Mid-America Christian started off strong in the fourth quarter as Christopher went coast-to-coast on a rebound and layup before Littell got an offensive board and scooped it in to close the MACU deficit to 52-50 with just under nine minutes remaining.
- SC slowly built its lead back over the next four minutes as the Warriors outscored the Evangels 10-5 over the stretch as Schultz buried another midrange shot to stretch it back to a 62-55 game with 5:14 left.
- With both teams struggling to find the bottom of the next over the next two-and-a-half minutes, Hallie Reed's lone three during the stretch allowed MACU to keep it to a four-point game at 62-58 with the 3:55 mark.
- Sterling nearly put the game out of reach behind a 7-1 surge late as two Briar foul shots with 1:29 left stretch the Warriors advantage to 69-59.
- The Evangels quickly trimmed their deficit in-half as an Outon three-point play and a strong Christopher finish with 37 seconds left closed it to 69-64 with 37 seconds left.
- MACU was able to take advantage of the Warriors missing some opportunities at the foul line as two Reed three-pointers allowed the Evangels to make it a two-point game at 62-60 with five seconds left.
- The door was still open for MACU when Gill knocked down just one of two free throws with four seconds left to keep it to a one-possession game at 63-60, but the Warriors defense prevented the Evangels from getting a potential game-tying three up at the buzzer as Sterling held on for the win.
GAME NOTES
- Despite the result, Mid-America Christian managed to outshoot Sterling, knocking down 28-of-62 (45.2 percent) of its attempts and went 8-for-22 (27.3 percent) from three while the Warriors shot 28-for-63 (44.4 percent) from the field and just 1-of-12 (8.3 percent) from three-point range.
- The biggest difference in the game came from the free throw line as Sterling knocked down 16-for-20 (80 percent) from the stripe while the Evangels could only convert 8-of-17 (47.1 percent).
- While both teams were relatively even on the glass with MACU holding a 35-34 edge, the turnover battle proved favorable for Sterling as MACU committed 17 giveaways to the Warriors' 10 while SC held a 16-7 edge in points off turnovers.
- The Evangels struggled to find an answer for the KCAC Newcomer of the Year in Karsen Schultz, who finished with a double-double with 24 points on 12-of-17 shooting to go 10 boards and two steals.
- Likewise, Sterling couldn't stop the SAC Newcomer of the Year in Shy Christopher, who led the Evangels with 24 points on 12-of-19 from the field and yanked down six rebounds.
- While Jaci Littell struggled from three, knocking down just 1-for-7 from downtown, she was very productive from inside the arc, knocking down 4-of-5 from two to finish with 11 points to go with five rebounds.
- In her final game in a MACU uniform, Kyleigh Leverich provided a spark off the Evangels bench, scoring 11 points and despite finishing just 3-for-10 from the field, the Cushing, Okla. native was 2-for-6 from downtown and 3-for-4 from the line while also finishing with a team-high seven rebounds.
- Despite MACU's three-point struggles, Hallie Reed led the Evangels from beyond the arc as she knocked down 3-of-4 tries to finish with nine points in just three minutes of action.
- Along with Leverich, Whitney Outon, Aneli Thomsen and Sydney Wycoff also played their final games with the Evangels.
- The Park City regional continued to be a tough one for MACU as it is the second time in the last three years that the Evangels have fallen in the first round inside Hartman Arena.
- Even though the Evangels came up on the short end, Mid-America Christian turned in another stellar year by finishing with their sixth 20-plus win season in the last seven years, which includes the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season where the Evangels only played 12 games.
