OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU women's basketball team was unable to slow down a red-hot shooting Southwestern Assemblies of God squad inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night as the Evangels suffered its fourth-straight loss in an 86-73 defeat.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 24 Points, 7-22 FG, 9-10 FT, 9 Reb, 3 Assists
• Mia Smith – 12 Points, 2-7 FG, 8-10 FT, 4 Reb
• Ashley Hopper – 8 Points, 4-7 FG, 5 Reb, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Southwestern Assemblies of God (9-6, 6-4 SAC) jumped out to an early 5-2 lead at the 7:20 mark on a pair of Kyla McMinn free throws and a Rylee Lavender three before the Evangels countered with five unanswered Jaci Calavan points as her triple from the right wing off the baseline inbound gave Mid-America Christian (10-6, 4-6 SAC) its first lead at 7-5 with 6:30 to go.
  • After Shy Christopher gave MACU its largest lead of the period by rolling in a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 10-7 with just under six minutes left, SAGU eventually battled back to take the lead at 15-14 on Neeley Tilley-Bedick's lay-in with just under four remaining.
  • MACU managed to tie it on a pair of occasions, the last coming on a pair of Mia Smith free throws with 2:41 left to make it 17-all, but Caitlyn Tucker's three-ball at the 1:51 mark put the Lions back in-front before eventually holding on for the 22-20 lead at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • Even though a pair of treys from Tucker Karley Miller following an Autumn Moore layup stretched the SAGU advantage to 24-20, Christopher got her soft runner from the left side to fall with 6:27 remaining to start a 6-0 run as Christopher tied it up on a shot clock beating, step-through midrange jumper before Ashley Hopper put MACU in-front 26-24 with lay-in at the 5:07 mark.
  • An Agar Garcia layup briefly tied the game up before the Evangels captured their largest lead of the half at 33-29 following layup from Alexis Borgstadt and Calavan with 3:33 to go.
  • The Lions closed out the half with a 10-4 surge as a Wendy Clemmons long triple from the top of the key sent SAGU into the break with a 39-37 edge.
• Third Quarter
  • Borgstadt tied it back up for MACU on its first possession with a strong left baseline take to the basket just 15 seconds in, but the Lions immediately gained the lead back on the ensuing possession while scoring five of the next seven as Tilley-Bedick's three with 7:48 left brought it to 46-41.
  • The Evangels scored on the next two possessions on lay-ins by Sydney Savage and Christopher to cut it to a one-point game, but SAGU held MACU to without a field goal over a 3:40 stretch as a 6-2 Lions surge extended it to a 52-47 advantage on Rylee Lavender's long-ball with just over four minutes to go.
  • MACU had one last run to trim it back to a one-point game at 52-51 with 2:42 left on buckets from Christopher and Mia Smith, but the Lions once again finished strong by putting together a 14-6 run over the final 2:34 as Tilley-Bedick's buzzer beating three from 26 feet out on the left wing gave SAGU its largest lead to that point at 66-57.
• Fourth Quarter
  • After trading the first eight points to open the final period, Southwestern Assemblies started putting the game out of reach following another Neeley-Bedick three at the 6:22 mark as the Lions put together a 11-2 run over the next four minutes, taking their largest advantage at 81-63 on another Garcia lay-in with 2:12 to go.
  • The Evangels scored eight of the next 10 to close it to an 83-71 game on a pair of Calavan foul shots with 1:08 remaining, but Chanie Chambers shot clock beating three on following possession put the game to rest as Smith knocked down a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to wrap-up the 86-73 final.

GAME NOTES

• Even though Mid-America Christian finished with 73 points, the Evangels struggled from the field as MACU shot just 22-for-68 (32.4 percent) while knocking down only 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) from three-point range. MACU's ability to score from the foul line kept the Evangels in the game, finishing 26-of-31 (83.9 percent) as a team.
• The 86 points allowed by the MACU defense was the most the Evangels had conceded in a loss this season as Southwestern Assemblies of God shot a blazing 34-for-58 (58.6 percent) from the floor, including 13-of-25 (52 percent) from downtown while SAGU converted just 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
• The Evangels were able to keep pace with the Lions for most of the game due to winning the rebounding battle by a 43-37 margin, including an astounding 19-7 on the offensive glass. However, MACU wasn't able to capitalize often on its bonus chances as the Evangels held just a 12-9 edge in second chance points.
• Even though SAGU shot at a blistering clip from the field, the Evangels' defense was able to force the Lions into committing 19 turnovers while making only 15 miscues on the offensive end.
• Despite a tough shooting night for MACU's leading scorer Shy Christopher, who finished 7-of-22 from the field, the redshirt junior guard still managed to knock down 9-for-10 from the charity stripe to finish with a game-high 24 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds to go with three assists.
• Freshman guard Mia Smith was the only other Evangel to break into double-figures scoring, finishing with 12 points while also converting a highly efficient 8-of-10 from the line.
• Jaci Calavan narrowly missed breaking into double-figures with nine points while Ashley Hopper scored eight points off the MACU bench on 4-of-7 shooting to go with five boards.
• Southwestern Assemblies of God snapped MACU's six-game win streak in the series as the last time the Evangels fell to the Lions came in a 76-74 heartbreaker in Waxahachie, Texas on Feb. 13, 2020 where SAGU rallied from 11 down in the fourth quarter.
• The Evangels are trying to navigate through some uncharted waters in their struggles as MACU is on its first four-game losing streak since the 2013-14 season. The last time MACU dropped four in a row came in a five-game skid between Jan. 7-23 in 2014 before finally snapping the drought with an 84-65 win over St. Gregory's on Jan. 25.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will look to try and snap its skid on Saturday as the Evangels hit the road for a 2 p.m. tip-off against UNT Dallas inside the Trinity Basin Preparatory Athletic Complex.