OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 17 MACU women's basketball team struggled to get the offense going in the first half at Southwestern Christian on Monday night as the Evangels fell 77-67 to the Eagles inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 22 Points, 8-18 FG, 5-7 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Assists
• Jaci Calavan – 12 Points, 6-9 FT, 3 Reb
• Alexis Borgstadt – 9 Points, 3-7 FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Southwestern Christian (7-6, 3-4 SAC) jumped out to the early lead by scoring six of the first seven before Shy Christopher buried a left-corner three at the 5:49 mark to close the Mid-America Christian (10-3, 4-3 SAC) gap to 6-4.
  • The Eagles once again built a five-point advantage on MJ Case's mid-range jumper to make it 10-5 with just over five minutes left, but once again, MACU knocked the edge down to two on Sydney Adee's three from the right wing to make it 10-8 with 3:51 left.
  • Whitney Wade and Karley Miller traded triples on back-to-back possessions to set the score to 15-12 with 1:50 remaining, but SCU scored four of the last five to hold a 19-13 lead at the end of one period of play.
• Second Quarter
  • A Kylee Scheer running hook in the lane briefly closed the gap to four at 19-15, but Southwestern Christian quickly captured its first double-digit lead behind a 7-0 run capped off on a Case layup with 7:12 left, making it a 26-15 game.
  • Scoring came at a premium over the next four minutes as a Shy Christopher offensive board and putback at the 6:17 mark was the only scoring in the contest until Kennedy Allison's bucket with 2:53 to go pushed the Eagles' edge back to double-digits at 28-17.
  • Following an Adee steal and fastbreak layup, Southwestern Christian built their largest lead of the half on five-unanswered with a pair of Allison free throws setting the score to 33-19 with 1:11 left, but a Jaci Calavan three-point play with 25 seconds to go closed the MACU deficit to 33-22 at the break.
• Third Quarter
  • The Eagles opened the second half by scoring six of the first eight on a pair of threes by Tresha Yager and Delaney Reimer to extend the SCU advantage to 39-24 at the 8:46 mark.
  • A drive and dish from Mia Smith to Sydney Savage for a left side lay-in with 6:51 to go jumpstarted an 8-2 Evangels run capped off on a pair of Alexis Borgstadt foul shots to cut it ton single digits at 45-36 with four minutes left.
  • Another Reimer three with 2:28 to go put the Eagles back in-front by 12 before MACU cut the deficit down to seven on a Sydney Adee rebound and coast-to-coast drive, setting the score to 50-43 with 1:21 to go.
  • Southwestern Christian scored the final five points in the last minute to extend its lead back to double-digits at 55-43.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian was appearing to make it a game to start the final period as the Evangels converted three-point plays by Christopher and Scheer on the first two possessions before a Borgstadt drive and score closed the MACU gap to 55-51 with 8:28 remaining.
  • The Evangels went blow-for-blow with SCU over the next three minutes as Christopher's lay-in at the 5:47 mark kept it to a four-point game at 60-56, but SCU caught fire from beyond the arc as threes by MJ Case, Allison and Reimer during a 9-2 run stretched the Eagles advantage back to double-figures at 69-58 with 3:18 remaining.
  • Southwestern Christian grew its lead to as much as 13 on another Yager triple with 1:22 left, but the Evangels managed to cut it back to single-digits at 74-65 on a Savage layup and a pair of Christopher free throws with 1:10 on the clock.
  • The Evangels were unable to climb no closer as Yager's three-ball in the final minute helped seal the 77-67 win for the Eagles.

GAME NOTES

• It was a tale of two halves for Mid-America Christian offensively. The Evangels found themselves in a huge hole after shooting just 7-for-34 (20.6 percent) from the field, including 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from three as well as converting just 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) from the line in the first half. MACU was able to perform more efficiently on offense in the second half, shooting 17-for-34 (50 percent) and knocked down 10-of-12 (83.3 percent from the line) but struggled from beyond the arc at 1-for-7 (14.2 percent).
• The Evangels defensively struggled to slow down the Eagles red-hot offense which finished 29-of-63 (46 percent), which included 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) from three while going 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) from the line.
• While the Evangels won the turnover battle by forcing 16 SCU turnovers while giving it away 12 times, Southwestern Christian won the rebounding battle by a 37-32 margin.
• Shy Christopher was the only Evangel that was able to find a rhythm offensively, finishing the contest with 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting, going 5-for-7 from the foul line to go with four boards and two assists.
• Jaci Calavan was the only other MACU player to break double-figures with 12 points, but had one of her toughest shooting nights of the season by going 3-of-15 from the field and 6-for-9 from the free throw line.
• Alexis Borgstadt provided a spark off the MACU bench by finishing with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting in 19 minutes of action.
• Kylee Scheer led MACU on the glass with six rebounds as well as distributed a team-high three assists to go with five points.
• The win by the Eagles snapped MACU's five-game win streak over Southwestern Christian and was just the Evangels' second defeat inside Pickens-Springer Gymnasium since 2016.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will face another crosstown rival on the road on Thursday as the Evangels head uptown to Abe Lemons Arena to face Oklahoma City for a 6 p.m. tip-off.