OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 17 MACU Women's Basketball had a golden opportunity to gain some ground in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, but the Evangels struggled to slow down John Brown's red-hot three-point shooting as the Golden Eagles pulled out a 70-62 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Kylee Scheer – 15 Points, 5-7 FG, 3-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Reb
• Jaci Calavan – 13 Points, 4-9 FG, 3-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb
• Alexis Borgstadt – 13 Points, 4-10 FG, 4-6 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (10-5, 4-5 SAC) held the Golden Eagles offense to 0-for-3 shooting through the first two minutes while Jaci Calavan opened the scoring with a right-wing three on Shy Christopher's drive and dish down the left baseline with 8:49 to go.
  • After John Brown (12-3, 9-0 SAC) finally found the scoring column at the 7:56 mark on Tarrah Stephens three-pointer, Sydney Adee and Stephens traded two more threes before JBU's graduate student forward gave the visiting team its first lead of the contest on a lay-in on the low block, setting the score to 8-6 with 6:24 left.
  • Both teams continued to hit the three-ball down the stretch as triples from Karley Miller and Calavan sandwiched a Natalie Smith long-ball, putting MACU back in-front 17-15 with 1:28 remaining.
  • JBU captured the lead just before the end of the quarter on Smith's three from the right corner after curling off a screen with 17 seconds left to make it 20-19. MACU did have one last chance at the buzzer when Kylee Scheer drove the baseline and found Miller open the right corner, but her go-ahead chance bounced off the back iron to keep the Golden Eagles in-front.
• Second Quarter
  • Calavan briefly gave MACU the lead just 11 seconds into the second on a drive down the right lane, but Bella Irlenborn ignited the first substantial run for either team with a left wing 16-foot jumper on the ensuing possession. The Golden Eagles scoring eight unanswered as Irlenborn also finished the run with a lay-in to make it 28-21 JBU with just over seven minutes left.
  • After another Stephens layup at the 6:34 mark brought it to a 30-23 game, the Evangels defense managed to keep JBU at-bay for almost three minutes as a Hallie Reed left wing three and Sydney Savage foul shot with 4:43 to go closed it to a one-possession game at 30-27 with 4:43 left.
  • John Brown managed to extend its edge back to seven at 36-29 with just over three minutes to go on a pair of threes by Abbey Sanders and Briley Burns between a Scheer lay-in.
  • Scheer answered on the following possession with a deep three from the top of the key with 2:55 remaining, but that would be MACU's last bucket of the half as JBU scored the final four points to take a 40-32 lead into the break.
• Third Quarter
  • Over the first five minutes, Mid-America Christian chiseled away at the JBU advantage as Alexis Borgstadt opened the second half scoring with a spinning left-handed layup in the paint at the 9:08 mark. The Evangels put together a 9-3 run that was capped off on another Adee triple from the right corner on Christopher's kickout with 5:35 left to make it a 43-41 game.
  • Once again, the Golden Eagles had a three-point answer of their own as Graci Harris nailed a triple on the following possession as JBU held MACU to just two points over the next five minutes. JBU was able to build its first double-digit lead on Abbey Sanders three with 46 seconds left to bring it to 54-43.
  • MACU managed to knock the JBU lead back down to single-digits on a pair of Mia Smith free throws on the next possession, but Irlenborn once again pushed it back to double-digits with a lay-in at the 11 second mark to close the quarter at 56-45.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Borgstadt was able to trim MACU's deficit down to seven on a foul shot and a three-pointer from the top of the key at the 9:18 mark, but JBU's defense was able to keep MACU in-check once again for a two-minute stretch while Emily Sanders gave JBU its largest lead of the contest with a shot clock beating right wing three with 7:03 to go to set it to 61-49.
  • Over the next few minutes, the Evangels cut the deficit in-half at 61-55 with a pair of threes from Calavan and Scheer with 5:09 left, but once again, JBU countered with a Stephens midrange jumper and Smith three with 3:53 to go to extend the JBU edge back to 66-55.
  • The Evangels were unable to close the gap to less than eight the rest of the way as John Brown secured the 70-62 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was able to find its three-point shot against the Golden Eagles as the Evangels finished 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) and converted on 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the free throw line, but MACU struggled to get points in the paint as the Evangels shot 8-for-22 (36.3 percent) from inside the arc to finish 19-of-48 (39.6 percent) from the field.
• The Evangels were unable to slow down JBU's perimeter game as well as the Golden Eagles knocked down 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) from downtown while going 24-for-57 (42.1 percent) overall while knocking down 9-of-10 (90 percent) from the stripe.
• Even though MACU was able to win the rebounding battle by a 35-30 margin, ball security played one of the biggest impacts in the game as Golden Eagles were able to force twice as many turnovers at 16-8 while holding a 18-8 lead in points off those giveaways.
• In the battle of contrasting offensive styles, John Brown was able to completely neutralize MACU's fast-paced game as the Evangels were unable to score a single fastbreak bucket in the contest.
• Recording just her second double-digit scoring game in the last eight contest, Kylee Scheer was able to find her offensive rhythm once again, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, going 3-for-4 from three-point range and knocked down a pair of foul shots to lead MACU's offensive efforts.
• After struggling from the field in the last two games, Jaci Calavan also put together a solid shooting night after finishing 4-for-9, including 3-of-3 from downtown to go with a pair of foul shots for 13 points.
• Alexis Borgstadt rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting and went 4-for-6 from the stripe to go with five boards.
• Sydney Savage led MACU on the glass with eight rebounds while Mia Smith and Shy Christopher each finished with a team-high three assists.
• John Brown was able to completely keep MACU's leading scorer completely in-check. For the first time in her illustrious two-year Evangels career, the junior guard was held scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting, while also marking just the third time in 43 games that she was held to single-digit scoring.
• The Golden Eagles snapped MACU's two-game win streak over John Brown, getting just their second win against the Evangels since 2019.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back at home on Thursday, Jan. 18 as the Evangels will host Southwestern Assemblies of God for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.