OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU women's basketball team thwarted a strong Southwestern Christian rally in-front of a raucous White Out Night crowd inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday night as the Evangels put together a 18-8 fourth quarter to pull away with the 72-58 victory.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 35 Points, 14-21 FG, 2-5 3FG, 5-6 FT, 7 Reb, 5 Assists
• Alexis Borgstadt – 12 Points, 4-6 FG, 2-2 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb
• Jaci Calavan – 9 Points, 1-9 FG, 6-6 FT, 7 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (14-6, 8-6 SAC) set the tone early in the first period as layups by Shy Christopher on MACU's first two possessions before Jaci Calavan buried a pair of free throws gave the Evangels the early 6-0 edge with 8:26 to go.
  • After a Delaney Reimer three cut the Southwestern Christian (10-10, 6-8 SAC) cut the Eagles deficit down to three, MACU captured its largest lead of the quarter following another Christopher finish before Kylee Scheer found Mia Smith open for a right-wing triple with 4:48 left to make it 13-5.
  • Over the final half of the quarter, SCU managed to whittle the Evangels' edge down to two possessions as Lauren Wade's lay-in with 49 seconds left cut it down to a 20-16 game at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • Following Cassie Colong's quick drive down the left side on SCU's first possession to trim it to a one-score game, Mid-America Christian swung back with a 7-1 surge, featuring five points from Christopher coming off an and-one and a pair of free throws with 6:29 remaining to make it a 27-19 game.
  • A hoop-and-harm for SCU's MJ Case and another Reimer layup once again brought it to a one-possession game at 27-24, but Christopher buried a cold-blooded triple from the right wing on the ensuing possession to jumpstart a 10-2 run. Ashley Hopper capped off the run by pulling down an offensive board on Christopher's heat check three, scooping in the right-handed lay-in to give MACU its largest lead of the half at 37-26 at the 3:27 mark.
  • SCU scored the next four to make it a seven-point game on Colong's left-lane drive and layup with 2:32 left, but that would be the Eagles final score of the half as a pair of Alexis Borgstadt foul shots with 47 seconds remaining sent MACU into the break with the 39-30 advantage.
• Third Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian came out ice cold to start the second half while the Eagles took advantage by opening with a 10-unanswered streak as SCU took its first lead of the contest at 40-39 on Jayden Mason's three-point play with 6:12 to go.
  • Christopher finally snapped MACU's cold spell with a fast take down the left baseline on the following possession, starting an 11-4 Evangels run as the junior guard scored nine of 11 points to push Mid-America lead to 50-44 with 3:27 remaining.
  • Southwestern Christian made one more last push to tie it up at 50-50 on MJ Case's three-point play at the 2:15 mark, but the Evangels recaptured the advantage heading into the fourth as Christopher miraculously banked a midrange jumper and drew the foul as her three-point play made it a 54-50 game at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • MACU's defense completely shut down the Eagles through the first five minutes of final period as the Evangels strung together a 13-4 run finished off when Borgstadt rattled in a right-wing three off Christopher's drive and dish to set the score to 67-54 with five minutes to go.
  • Even though SCU's defense was able to hold MACU to without a field goal over the next three-and-a-half-minute stretch, the Eagles were not able to knock the Evangels' edge to below double-digits as Calavan was finally able to snap a tough shooting night with a left-wing three with 1:31 left on Christopher's fifth assist to cap off the 72-58 final

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the contest by shooting 25-for-53 (47.2 percent) from the field and 8-of-25 (32 percent) from the free throw line while effectively converting on 14-for-16 (87.5 percent) from the free throw line.
• Southwestern Christian turned in a 22-for-52 (42.3 percent) shooting performance, but the Eagles struggled from beyond the arc by making just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) while going 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Even though MACU was able to dominate the glass by a 39-28 margin, SCU won the turnover battle by forcing 22 Evangels giveaways while committing only 15. However, the Eagles were unable to take advantage of the turnover differential as MACU actually outscored Southwestern Christian 19-16 in points off takeaways.
• Shy Christopher put together the best game of her illustrious Evangels career, scoring a career-high 35 points on 14-of-21 shooting, including going 2-for-5 from three and 5-of-6 from the line while pulling down seven boards and dishing out five assists. Christopher's 14 made shots went into MACU's NAIA Era (2007-present) single game record book for the third-most made in a game, just two shy of the record held by Ashlee Ferguson and Kelli Tolar.
• Alexis Borgstadt was the only other Evangel to crack into double-figures, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-6 from the field while going 2-for-2 from three.
• Despite a tough night for Jaci Calavan, who shot 1-for-9 and 1-of-8 from three, the senior guard still managed to finish with nine points on 6-of-6 foul shooting to go with seven boards and three assists.
• Kylee Scheer led MACU on the glass with nine rebounds, the most for the junior guard since her 20-point, 10-rebound game at Wayland Baptist back on Nov. 30.
• A big part of MACU's success stemmed from being able to frustrate one of the Sooner Athletic Conference's top scorers in MJ Case. While Case was able to finish with 13 points, it came on the heels of a tough 5-for-15 shooting night while the Evangels were able to force her into committing seven turnovers.
• With the win, the Evangels were able to split the season-series with SCU after the Eagles came away with a 77-67 win over MACU at Pickens-Springer Gym on Jan. 8.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up its four-game home stand on Thursday as the Evangels will host Texas Wesleyan for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke.