OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 17 MACU women's basketball team continued to be challenged to find a win on the road on Thursday night inside Abe Lemons Arena as Oklahoma City pulled away with a 75-69 win over the Evangels.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 17 Points, 8-16 FG, 4 Reb
• Jaci Calavan – 14 Points, 4-13 FG, 6-7 FT, 3 Reb
• Alexis Borgstadt – 13 Points, 5-7 FG, 3-6 FT, 6 Reb, 3 Steals
• Sydney Savage – 8 Points, 2-6 FG, 4-6 FT, 13 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • After trading the first two points on a pair of Sydney Savage foul shots and a Jerzie Bryant jumper, Mid-America Christian (10-4, 4-4 SAC) went on a 6-1 run to capture an 8-3 lead on Shy Christopher's left-handed finger roll layup with 7:12 left.
  • Oklahoma City (5-9, 4-4 SAC) closed it to a 10-8 game on Amaya Gordon's three with 6:15 to go, but the Evangels countered with layups by Kylee Scheer and Alexis Borgstadt to push it out to a six-point game at 14-8 at the 4:32 mark.
  • MACU's defense held the Stars scoreless over a three-minute stretch before extending its edge to 20-12 on Christopher's fastbreak layup with 17 seconds on the clock, but OCU managed to knock it back to six before the end of the quarter on Jazmin Adams lay-in with seven seconds left.
• Second Quarter
  • Oklahoma City briefly closed it a five-point game at 24-19 on Bryant's three-ball from the left wing just under eight minutes left, but the Evangels quickly swelled their lead to its largest of the contest on a Savage offensive board and putback and a pair of Jaci Calavan free throws to set the score to 28-19 with 6:46 remaining.
  • Following a Borgstadt layup at the 6:12 mark to make it 30-21, the Evangels went through a three-minute long cold spell as OCU went on a six-unanswered run capped off on a Cacie Gorman midrange jumper from the left baseline to close it to 30-27 with just under three-and-a-half minutes to go.
  • Sydney Adee's ball-fake and left-handed layup with 3:14 remaining finally snapped MACU's scoreless streak as the Evangels scored six of the next eight to bring the lead to 36-29 Adee capped it on another lay-in at the 2:29 mark.
  • The Stars held the Evangels scoreless the rest of the way as buckets from Bryant and Gorman allowed OCU to trim its gap to 36-33 heading into the break.
• Third Quarter
  • The Stars opened the second half by scoring six of the first nine, tying the game up at 39-all on a pair of Amaya Gordon free throws with 7:34 left.
  • A Calavan three-point play and a pair of Borgstadt foul shots put the Evangels back up by five at 44-39 with just under six minutes to go.
  • Over the final five minutes of the period, the Evangels struggled to find a rhythm on the offensive end as the Stars closed out the period with a 12-4 run, including scoring the final six points to capture a 51-48 advantage.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian tied it up on a pair of occasions in the first minute of the final period on a Karley Miller three from the top of the key and Christopher lay-in with 9:05 left to make it 53-53.
  • After the Evangels tied it up at 55 on a pair of Adee free throws, the Stars went on a 6-1 run to stretch its lead to 61-56 on a Ray Osborn foul shot with just over six minutes remaining.
  • MACU managed to claw it back to a one-point deficit at 61-60 with just under five minutes to go on layups from Borgstadt and Savage, but the Stars captured their largest lead on another Bryant three followed by a Gordon fastbreak layup off an Evangels turnover to make it 66-60 at the 4:10 mark.
  • The Evangels did close it to a one-possession game on a Calavan offensive board and tip-in, setting the score to 68-65 with 51 seconds remaining, but MACU would be able to climb no closer as the Stars put the game away with a Lauren Rowan shot-clock buzzer beating three on the ensuing possession before eventually pulling away with the 75-69 win.

GAME NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian managed to shoot 25-of-65 (38.5 percent), including 24-for-51 (47.1 percent) from inside the arc, the Evangels continued to struggle from the three-point arc, going just 1-for-14 (7.1 percent) from downtown and converted 18-for-26 (69.2 percent) of their free throw attempts.
• Oklahoma City shot a slightly more efficient 28-for-68 (41.2 percent), including 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from three and converted 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) from the charity stripe.
• After getting outrebounded 22-14 in the first half, Mid-America Christian improved on the glass in the second half, out-boarding the Stars 30-17 in the second half to win the rebounding battle, 44-39, which included a 20-14 margin on the offensive glass.
• Leading MACU's offensive efforts was Shy Christopher with 17 points on 8-of-16 from the field to go with four boards.
• Despite struggling on the offensive end, Jaci Calavan still managed to finish with 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting, but went 6-for-7 from the free throw line to go with three boards.
• Alexis Borgstadt provided a spark off the MACU bench with 13 points on 5-of-7 from the floor and 3-for-6 from the line to go with six boards and three steals.
• Sydney Savage narrowly missed a double-double with eight points on 2-of-6 from the floor and 4-of-6 from the stripe to go with a career-high 13 rebounds.
• After suffering a 77-67 loss at Southwestern Christian on Monday, it is the first time this season the Evangels have lost back-to-back games while MACU has now fallen in three-straight against the Stars.
• Mid-America Christian has struggled to find answers for winning on the road this season as MACU dropped to 2-3 in games outside of the Gaulke this season while holding a stellar 8-1 record inside its home venue.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will play one of its biggest home games of the season on Saturday as the Evangels will face Sooner Athletic Conference leader John Brown for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.