OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 17 MACU women's basketball team had a sour start to its 2024 portion of the season as the Evangels suffered a tough 85-57 defeat to Langston inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 11 Points, 3-9 FG, 4-6 FT
• Sydney Savage – 10 Points, 4-11 FG, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb
• Kylee Scheer – 9 Points, 3-9 FG, 2-3 FT, 7 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Shy Christopher buried a three from the right corner at the 8:40 mark to start the Mid-America Christian (9-2, 3-2 SAC) scoring as the Evangels opened the contest with an 11-2 run capped off on a Jaci Calavan pull-up mid-range jumper in the paint with 5:36 left.
  • Langston (10-2, 5-1 SAC) battled back to close the gap to 14-13 on a Brittany Rivera three with 2:26 remaining, but the Evangels closed out the quarter with a 6-1 run on a pair of Sydney Savage layups in-between an Alexis Borgstadt lay-in to give MACU the 20-13 edge after one.
• Second Quarter
  • Mia Smith found Kylee Scheer open for a left-wing three on the Evangels' first possession to extend the MACU edge to nine, but the Lions countered with seven unanswered as Koreaa Kirksey's layup with 8:22 to go closed it 23-21.
  • Midway through the quarter, Langston put together a monster run as a Kameron Shelley step-back triple jumpstarted an 18-3 streak as Shae Routt's right elbow jumper just before the buzzer sent the Lions into the half with the 41-31 advantage.
• Third Quarter
  • The Lions carried their momentum into the second half as Langston scored the first seven points before eventually stretching its lead to 53-33 on a Kirksey three-ball with just over six minutes left.
  • The Evangels briefly knocked the LU advantage down to 15 on a Sydney Adee three from the top of the key and a Shy Christopher lay-in, but the Lions scored eight of the next 10 to stretch its edge back to 61-40 on a Jordynn Conner fastbreak layup at the three-minute mark.
  • A pair of Kylee Scheer foul shots briefly trimmed the Lions' lead below 20, but Langston knocked down a pair of threes in the final 1:28 to hold a 67-44 advantage at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • MACU countered a Conner three-point play with back-to-back buckets from Alexis Borgstadt and Sydney Savage to make it a 70-48 with eight minutes remaining, but LU scored seven of the next eight points to swell its lead out to 77-49 on Mattie Boyd's layup in the paint at the 6:08 mark.
  • Langston continued to pull away down the stretch, leading by as much as three on a Kirksey triple with 45 seconds left, but a pair of Calavan foul shots with under a second left wrapped up the 85-57 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian struggled from the field, shooting a season-worst 19-for-65 (29.2 percent) while also knocking down a season-low 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from three. The Evangels also had a rough night from the foul line, shooting just 16-for-28 (57.1 percent).
• The Evangels were unable to slow down Langston's red-hot perimeter game as the Lions knocked down 13 three-pointers for the second-straight game after going 13-for-27 (48.1 percent) while also shooting an efficient 32-of-68 (47.1 percent).
• Despite the Evangels offensive struggles, MACU still managed to win the rebounding battle by a 48-46 margin, but lost the turnover battle with 12 giveaways to eight for Langston.
• Only two Evangels were able to break into double-figure scoring as Shy Christopher scored 11 points to lead MACU while Sydney Savage provided a spark off the bench, scoring 10 points and pulled down six boards in just 13 minutes of action.
• Kylee Scheer led the Evangels on the glass with seven rebounds to go with nine points and dished out a team-high three assists.
• Jaci Calavan finished the contest with nine points, but the senior guard saw her incredible consecutive made free throw streak come to an end after missing her second foul shot in the game, ending the streak at 44.
• The defeat marked the first time in program history the Evangels have lost consecutive games to Langston in program history after the Lions upended MACU 59-58 in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 23, 2023.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will look to bounce back on Saturday as the Evangels will wrap-up their three-game home stand with a 2 p.m. tip-off.