OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Women's Basketball team battled back from eight points down in the second half due in-large part to a huge 28-point fourth quarter to defeat Cottey 76-66 in the Evangels' opening contest of the Fourth Annual MACU Classic.
 
Hosting CLAim Victory Night for the second year in a row, Mid-America Christian held a special ceremony to honor redshirt sophomore guard Camryn Armes before the contest, as she won her battle against cancer this spring after being diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma before the start of the 2023-24 season.
  
TOP PERFORMERS 

• Talayah Thomas – 20 Points, 6-7 FG, 3-4 3FG, 5 Reb, 3 Assists
• Alexis Borgstadt – 13 Points, 4-7 FG, 4-4 FT, 6 Reb 
• Hailey Tunnell – 11 Points, 3-4 FG, 3-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Assists
• Kylee Scheer – 5 Points, 8 Assists, 6 Reb

GAME SUMMARY 

• First Quarter 
  • Mid-America Christian (3-0) caught fire early as a midrange jumper by Talayah Thomas off an assist by Alexis Borgstadt made it 8-2 MACU just over three minutes into the contest.  
  • MACU continued to pull away over the course of the quarter as junior guard Hailey Tunnell was able to connect behind the three-point arc with 4:40 remaining to give MACU its largest lead of the period at 17-9.  
  • Cottey (2-1) quickly answered with a three-ball of its own own from AuShae Farris that jumpstarted an 8-0 run that was capped off on a three-pointer by Claudia Hadlock to end the quarter all tied up at 17.  
• Second Quarter
  • Both teams struggled to find a groove on offense with the Evangels narrowly outscoring the Comets 6-5 following Jya Barksdale and Aniya Smith quickly trading layups to make it 23-22 MACU with 5:48 left. 
  • CC found its stride following an Akyra James layup as the Comets rattled off a 10-2 run capped off on a pair of Sarah Hunt foul shots with 1:44 remaining to give Cottey its largest lead of the half at 32-25.
  • Mid-America Christian managed to close it back to a one-possession game toward the end of the half as Shy Christopher hit a midrange jumper with 1:25 to go followed by a Borgstadt offensive rebound and put-back with 32 seconds to go on the ensuing offensive possession to close out the half trailing just 32-29 at the break.  
• Third Quarter 
  • It didn't take long for the Evangels to recapture the lead as MACU opened the second half with a Kylee Scheer corner three and four points from Alexis Borgstadt to make it 36-32 at the 8:34 mark. 
  • Cottey was able to get back on track after being held scoreless for the first three minutes as Sarah Hunt had the hot hand, scoring eight consecutive points on a pair of threes and a jumper to give the Comets a 40-36 advantage with 5:48 on the clock.  
  • Hunt continued to torch the Evangels defense as her 14^th point of the quarter came on the three-ball to stretch the Cottey edge 47-39 for its largest lead of the contest.
  • MACU was able to knock its deficit down to one-possession on a pair of occasions, the last on a pair of Harrod foul shots with 11 seconds to go, but Hunt was once again fouled with two seconds to go, knocking down one of two freebies to push the CC edge to 52-48 at the end of three.  

• Fourth Quarter 
  • After Cottey briefly built its lead back out to 56-50, the Evangels were able to go on a huge 12-0 surge that started with a Thomas layup and ended with Thomas three-pointer to put MACU up 62-56 with 5:47 left.  
  • After going scoreless for nearly four minutes, the Comets finally ended the drought on a layup by James to cut MACU's advantage to 62-58 at the 4:24 mark.
  • With two-and-a-half to go, Tunnell banged a clutch three on Scheer's seventh assist of the contest, stretching the Evangels' lead to 69-60. 
  • Thomas concluded her great night with just over a minute remaining as she buried a dagger three-ball that gave MACU their largest lead of the night at 72-61 before eventually closing out the 76-66 victory.

GAME NOTES 

• While coming away with the positive result, Cottey managed to out-shoot the Evangels from the floor as the Comets went 24-for-58 (41.4 percent) from the field compared to just 23-of-61 (37.7 percent) for MACU.
• However, the biggest difference in the contest came from behind the arc and from the free throw line as MACU shot 42.1 percent (8-for-19) from distance to just 25 percent (7-of-28) for the Comets while the Evangels shot a blistering 22-of-25 (88 percent) from the stripe to only 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) for CC.
• MACU was able to separate themselves on the boards with a 46-27 rebounding margin over the Comets including a dominant 14-3 edge on the offensive glass, allowing the Evangels outscore Cottey 14-5 in second chance points.
• Talayah Thomas had her first breakout game in an Evangels uniform as she led the way with a career-high 20 points, shooting a blistering 6-for-7 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three while also tacking on five rebounds and three assists.
• After a tough start to her third season through the first two games, senior forward Alexis Borgstadt was able to find a rhythm on the offensive end as she finished with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting while going 4-for-4 from the line with six boards after registering just eight points and six rebounds through the first two games combined.  
• Senior center Syncere Harrod led MACU's balanced glass game with a game-high seven rebounds to go with eight points off the Evangels bench.  
• Hailey Tunnell came through with some huge shots for MACU, going 3-4 from beyond the arc to go with a pair of foul shots to finish the night with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists off the Evangels bench. 
• The Evangels were able to win this one despite two of their top scorers having quiet nights as Shy Christopher (5-for-18) and Kylee Scheer (1-for-9) combined for just 15 points, tying the lowest combined scoring output in the duo's 34^th game together, with the other occurrence happening in the 70-62 loss to John Brown inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 13.
• Despite her tough shooting night, Scheer was still able to make a massive impact with her sensational floor game, finishing with a career-high eight assists to go with six boards and a pair of steals.

UP NEXT 

• Mid-America Christian will meet Mission (Mo.) for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday to close out the MACU Classic following the John Brown/Cottey game slated for a noon tip.