OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 24 MACU Women's basketball team improved to 9-0 after taking down College of the Ozarks 67-56 in the first ever official Sooner Athletic Conference matchup between the two programs. The Evangels established dominance on the glass, out-rebounding the Bobcats 64-26 Saturday afternoon inside the Gaulke Activity Center. 
 

TOP PERFORMERS 

• Shy Christopher – 19 Points, 8-19 FG, 10 Reb, 3 Assists 
• Harley Harbour – 10 Points, 5-14 FG, 15 Reb 
• Talayah Thomas – 8 Points, 3-8 FG, 4 Reb, 3 Assists 

GAME SUMMARY 

• First Quarter 
  • Mid-America Christian (9-0, 5-0 SAC) jumped out to an incredibly fast start through the first three-and-a-half minutes, scoring the first 10 points as Talayah Thomas buried a right-wing three with 6:41 to go to cap the run. 
  • College of the Ozarks (4-4, 2-2 SAC) finally got on the board at the 6:21 mark on a Blythe Benefield midrange jumper, but the Evangels countered with back-to-back buckets from Harley Harbour and a Shy Christopher fastbreak pull-up jumper to give MACU its largest lead of the quarter at 14-2 with 4:12 left. 
  • COFO cut the deficit down to single-digits by scoring five of the next seven, but the Evangels closed out the period with a 5-1 run as Syncere Harrod's foul shots with four seconds left to hold a 21-8 advantage. 
• Second Quarter 
  • Hailey Tunnell's right elbow three on a kick-out and around the horn passing gave MACU its largest edge of the half at 24-10 with 8:10 remaining before the Bobcats strung together a dominant 16-2 run over the next six minutes as a Taylor Rush three-ball at the 2:38 mark tied the game up at 26-all.
  • After being held to without a field goal for precisely six minutes, Thomas snapped the cold spell on a right-handed lay-in in the paint off a stellar no-look pass from Harrod to make it 28-26 with 2:10 left. 
  • A left-wing three from Avery Arnold gave COFO its first lead of the game before Harrod's offensive board and put-back on the ensuing possession with 1:04 to go sent MACU into the break with the 30-29 edge. 
• Third Quarter 
  • The Bobcats jumped out in-front to start the third on another Rush three before the Evangels countered with a 6-1 run capped off on a Christopher running fastbreak jumper to give MACU the 36-33 lead. 
  • COFO briefly took back a 37-36 lead on a Benefield lay-in with 6:13 to go, but MACU swung back a 7-1 run of its own to capped off on Harbour's offensive lay-in to set the score to 43-38 with 4:08 left. 
  • Ozarks briefly cut it to a two-point game with 3:07 to go, but the Evangels stifled the Bobcats defensively, holding COFO to only two free throws with three seconds left while stringing together a 5-2 surge to hold a 48-43 edge at the end of three. 
• Fourth Quarter
  • The Evangels briefly stretched their advantage 50-43 on a Mary Nyakundi layup with just over nine minutes left before the Bobcats scored the next five to cut it to a one-possession game on Rush's triple to make it 50-48 with 8:38 remaining. 
  • Mid-America Christian put together a dominant 16-4 run over the next seven minutes as Christopher's second-chance bucket with 1:31 left gave MACU a commanding 65-52 advantage.  
  • With 1:06 remaining Taylor Rush knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to bring it to single-digits, but it was far too late as a lay-in by Harbour capped things off to give MACU the 67-56 win. 

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian shot 26-for-77 from the field (33.8 percent) compared to College of the Ozarks 19-of-50 (38 percent). The Evangels did the majority of the damage inside the paint with a 32-20 advantage. 
• MACU once again dominated the boards, especially on the offensive side with a 31-3 margin and 64-26 overall. 
• The Evangels fell just one shy at a crack at the top five overall in a game within the NAIA Era (2007-present). 
• Shy Christopher led the contest in scoring with 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds, marking the fifth double-double of her Evangel career.  
• MACU's leading rebounder Harley Harbour cashed in her third game of at least 14 boards (nine offensive) while picking up her third double-double of the year with 10 points as well. 
• The Evangels were able to spread the ball around offensively with Talayah Thomas, Kylee Scheer and Mia Smith all having at least three assists with Scheer leading the way with four. 
• The fourth quarter magic continued for the Evangels as they have outscored their opponents in seven of the nine games played. 
• With the win the Evangels picked up their first victory in five career matchups against the Bobcats. The win marked the first official SAC matchup with COFO joining the conference this season.  

UP NEXT 

• Mid-America Christian will hit the road for its final game before the Thanksgiving break as the Evangels will head up to Langston, Oklahoma on Tuesday for a high-profile matchup against Langston. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside C.F. Gayles Fieldhouse.