WAXAHACHIE, Texas – No. 24 MACU Women's Basketball faced some fierce three-point shooting from Nelson through the first three quarters, but the Evangels defensively stifled the Lady Lions to only two points in the fourth quarter to run away with a 68-58 victory inside the Sheaffer Center on Saturday afternoon.
  
TOP PERFORMERS 

• Shy Christopher – 24 Points, 7-16 FG, 3-7 3FG, 7-7 FT, 5 Reb
• Kylee Scheer – 14 Points, 6-14 FG, 4-11 3FG, 5 Reb
• Talayah Thomas – 9 Points, 3-8 FG, 3-7 3FG 
• Harley Harbour – 4 Points, 7 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Steals 

GAME SUMMARY 

• First Quarter 
  • After a few Mid-America Christian (6-0, 2-0 SAC) turnovers caused the Evangels to fall behind 6-0 through the first three minutes.
  • Shy Christopher was able to get MACU into the scoring column by draining a three-ball from the top of the arc with 6:39 to go to jumpstart a 10-4 MACU run capped off on Talayah Thomas' three-pointer from the left elbow with 4:23 remaining, tying it it at 10-10.
  • Nelson (1-4, 0-2 SAC) countered with an 11-0 run featuring a trio of three-pointers from three different players to seize the 21-10 advantage with just over a minute to go. 
  • The Evangels closed out the quarter on a pair of layups by Kylee Scheer and Syncere Harrod to bring it back to a single-digit deficit at 21-14.  

• Second Quarter 
  • After trading buckets through the first six minutes, MACU was able to strike for a 9-2 surge netting three-pointers on three straight possessions as Thomas buried two of the treys while dishing it to Scheer on the third to close the gap to 30-29 with 2:50 left.
  • With 1:17 remaining, Shy Christopher got to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws to give MACU its first lead of the contest at 31-30.  
  • On the ensuing offensive possession, the Evangels took advantage of a two-on-one fastbreak with Christopher finding Scheer on the bounce pass to lead to an easy left-handed layup.
  • Nelson was able to counter with a layup of its own with Julianna Matlock connecting with 13 seconds left to make it 33-32 MACU going into the break.  

• Third Quarter 
  • It was another back-and-forth battle through the first four-and-a-half minutes, but Christopher buried three-balls on back-to-back possessions from the left corner to give MACU at the time its largest lead of the game at 45-39 with just over five minutes to go.
  • In the midst of Christopher's three-point heater, Nelson was putting together a three-point barrage of its own as a Kyla McMinn trey at the 5:26 mark started a string of five-straight Lady Lions possessions with a triple. The last by Ashley Gonzalez at the 3:04 mark allowed Nelson to capture a 51-47 advantage.
  • An Alexis Borgstadt lay-in with 2:45 remaining closed out scoring for MACU in the quarter as Nelson scored the final five with Matlock's trey from the top of the arc on Nelson's final possession gave the Lady Lions a 56-49 lead heading into the final period. 

• Fourth Quarter 
  • Just 42 seconds into the quarter, Harley Harbour found Borgstadt on a cross-court pass from the right corner to the left elbow which gave MACU a very much needed three-ball to spark the offense, cutting the Lady Lions lead to 56-52. 
  • With 6:51 remaining the Evangels knotted it up at 56-56 after Harbour forced a turnover on an intercepted pass by Miller, allowing Christopher to scoop it up and travel coast-to-coast on the left-handed layup.  
  • It remained deadlocked over the next two-and-a-half minutes before Mia Smith corralled a long offensive rebound near the top of the key and relayed it to Christopher allowing her to breakaway to the right side of the basket to score, putting MACU up 58-56.  
  • The Evangels capped off a prolonged 12-0 run that lasted 7:44 on a three-pointer off the inbound pass from Mia Smith that connected to Scheer in the right corner, setting the score to 61-56 with just over three minutes to go.
  • Nelson finally broke its scoring drought on an Autumn Moore mid-range jumper off the screen from McMinn at the 2:41 mark, but that would be the Lady Lions' only score of the quarter.
  • With 2:17 left, Scheer struck again from downtown on a three from the left elbow once off another Mia Smith assist to put the Evangels up 64-58. MACU capped off the contest from the foul line as Christopher went 4-for-4 from the strike over the final two minutes to seal the 78-68 victory.

GAME NOTES 

• Mid-America Christian shot 21-for-59 (35.6 percent) from the field compared to Nelson's 21-for-52 (40.4 percent), but the biggest difference maker came at the free throw line as MACU went a perfect 15-for-15 and held the Lady Lions to just 5-for-6 (83.3 percent).  
• Both teams made a season-high 11 threes as the Evangels went 11-for-35 (31.4. percent) with the Lady Lions going 11-for-31 (35.5 percent).  
• The 15-for-15 (100 percent) free throw shooting was the best performance in the NAIA Era (2007-present) overtaking a 14-of-14 performance against Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 30, 2016.  It marked just the third time the Evangels had ever converted on all of their free throw attempts while attempting more than 10 in a contest.
• After Nelson put up 24 points on 6-of-9 three-point shooting in the third, the Evangels defense was able to put up a great defensive front in the last quarter, forcing 10 turnovers by the Lady Lions and allowing just two points outscoring them 19-2 in the process.   
• Mid-America Christian was far more opportunistic in the turnover battle as the Evangels outscored Nelson 28-4 in points off giveaways with a 17-12 turnover differential.
• Shy Christopher scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-16 shooting while tying a career-best 3-for-7 from the three-point arc and a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line to go with five boards.
• Talayah Thomas and Kylee Scheer were also big-time contributors from the three-point arc as Scheer went 4-of-11 from distance and 6-for-14 overall to finish with 16 points, five boards and three assists while Thomas converted on 3-for-7 to finish with nine points.  
• Despite being put offensively in-check, Harley Harbour put together a strong floor game for the Evangels as she led the team in rebounds (7), assists (3) and steals (2).
• With the victory, MACU has won nine of its last 10 games against Nelson while marking the fourth-straight season the Evangels have won their first six games of the year.

UP NEXT 

• Mid-America Christian will have a short turnaround as the Evangels will be back at home on Monday to take on Central Christian for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.