OKLAHOMA CITY – Junior forward Harley Harbour led a huge rebounding effort for the No. 24 MACU Women's Basketball team as the she scored a career-high 18 points and pulled down a career-best 17 rebounds to lead the Evangels to an 86-73 victory over Central Christian inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 20 Points, 7-13 FG, 5-7 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Assists
• Harley Harbour – 18 Points, 7-16 FG, 4-5 FT, 17 Reb, 2 Steals
• Syncere Harrod – 16 Points, 6-11 FG, 8 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (7-0, 3-0 SAC) started out fast right out of the gate, scoring six of the first eight through the first 1:31 on a Harley Harbour offensive board and putback, a Shy Christopher lay-in and a pair of Mary Nyakundia free throws to hold the 6-2 advantage.
  • While Central Christian (2-5, 0-3 SAC) was able to cut it to a two-point deficit on a Hallee Winsea bucket with 6:49 to go, MACU immediately countered with five-unanswered over the next two minutes as a hoop-and-harm for Alexis Borgstadt gave the Evangels their largest lead of the quarter at 15-8 with 5:16 to go.
  • Over the next three-and-half minutes, the Tigers caught fire from beyond the arc, burying five treys during a 15-6 run to grab its first lead of the contest at 23-21 at the 1:27 mark.
  • The Evangels closed out the quarter the way they started it, scoring six of the final nine as Christopher's pull-up jumper with 21 seconds remaining gave MACU the 27-26 edge at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • Central Christian scored five of the first eight to grab a brief 31-30 lead before the Evangels swung back with eight-straight as a Talayah Thomas triple from the left corner after a returned inbound extended the MACU lead to 38-31 with four minutes to go.
  • A Charmayne Marshall three-ball a minute later closed it to a one-possession game at 38-35, but Harbour got the and-one bucket to fall with 2:38 left as the Evangels closed out the half on a 9-2 run capped on a pair of Shy Christopher foul shots with five second remaining to send MACU into the half with the 47-37 advantage.
• Third Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian opened the second half with Borgstadt getting a second chance lay-in on the left side off another Harbor offensive board, but the Tigers clawed it back to a seven-point game on a Charmayne Marshall three-ball and a Cristina Laudan jumper to close it to 49-42 with 7:25 left.
  • Central Christian was unable to knock the MACU edge to less than two possessions until another Marshall long ball with 3:46 remaining cut it to 57-51 before MACU took advantage of its opportunities from the foul line as Aniya Smith and Christopher each buried a pair over the next two possessions before a Syncere Harrod lay-in and another Aniya Smith three from the left corner capped off a 9-2 Evangels run to make it 66-53 at the 1:52 mark.
  • The Tigers managed to keep MACU off the board the rest of the period as two Tigers free throws set the core to 66-55 at the conclusion of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian imposed its will to start the final frame as the Evangels held the Tigers scoreless over the first two minutes while opening with an 8-2 run as Christopher rattled in a three from the right elbow to give MACU its largest advantage at 74-57 with 7:27 on the clock.
  • CCCK settled in on the defensive end over the next three minutes as the Tigers held MACU to only two points over a five-minute stretch. However, Central also struggled to get into an offensive rhythm as the Tigers could only trim it down to a 76-65 contest on a Winsea three with 4:44 remaining.
  • Harbour finally snapped the Evangels cold spell by capping off her phenomenal night with a right-side lay-in off a great Thomas dish with 2:21 to go as MACU rattled off eight of the next 10 with Thomas' strong take to the basket with 45 seconds left once again extending the Evangels' lead to 17 at 84-67.
  • Winsea buried a pair of threes, including a meaningless one at the buzzer to wrap-up a 6-2 Tigers run in the final 36 seconds as the Evangels came away with the 86-73 victory.

GAME NOTES

• The shooting percentages for both teams in the contest did not tell the full story as Central Christian managed to out-shoot Mid-America Christian. The Tigers wrapped up the game by shooting 25-for-50 (50 percent) from the field and a blistering 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from three, but did struggle to get chances at the line by going only 9-for-15 (60 percent).
• The Evangels struggled to score on their first chances as MACU was only able to knock down 29-of-76 (38.2 percent) from the floor and 3-for-14 (21.4 percent) from three. However, the Evangels got to the free throw line early and often, shooting 25-for-33 (75.8 percent) from the stripe.
• Offensive rebounding, second chance points and points in the paint were the name of the game for MACU. Not only did the Evangels outrebound Central Christian by an astonishing 58-25 margin, Mid-America Christian pulled down an NAIA Era (2007-present) single game record 34 offensive boards to just six for the Tigers to finish with an astounding 31-6 edge in second chance points.
• Not only did the 34 offensive boards break the single-game record, it obliterated it as MACU had never recorded more than 29 offensive rebounds, the last of which came in a 130-39 win over Manhattan Christian (Kan.) on Oct. 25, 2019.
• The offensive boards allowed MACU to downright dominate the painted area as the Evangels outscored the Tigers 50-18 in the box.
• Harley Harbour was the biggest reason for MACU's rebounding dominance as she finished the contest with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting while going 4-for-5 from the line, but of her 17 rebounds, an incredible 13 of them came on the offensive end.
• Shy Christopher led the MACU scoring efforts with 20 points on 7-of-13 from the floor and 5-for-7 from the line to go with five rebounds and three assists.
• With the Evangels being short-handed with senior guard Kylee Scheer being out of the contest due to injury, senior forward Syncere Harrod provided a spark off the MACU bench with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting and went 4-of-5 from the line while also narrowly missing a double-double with eight rebounds.
• Talayah Thomas led MACU's distribution efforts with four assists while committing only two turnovers for a solid 2-to-1 assist-turnover ratio.
• Playing some strong basketball coming in, Central Christian gave MACU one of its toughest tests to date during the Evangels' 21-game win streak as the 13-point margin of victory was the second-closest since Central Christian became a Sooner Athletic Conference member during the 2015-16 season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its next road challenge as the Evangels head to Siloam Springs, Arkansas on Thursday for a 6 p.m. contest against the reigning SAC Champions John Brown inside Bill George Arena.