OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 18 MACU Women's Basketball improved to 11-1 with a comeback victory over the Oklahoma City Stars inside the Abe Lemons Arena Saturday afternoon. Despite struggling from the field through the first three quarters, a strong defensive front by MACU kept it close, allowing the Evangels to outscore OCU 20-10 in the fourth to run away with a 53-45 victory.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 18 Points, 6-17 FG, 5-8 FT, 3 Reb
• Mary Nyakundi – 13 Points, 3-15 FG, 5-6 FT, 9 Reb
• Kylee Scheer – 8 Points, 3-11 FG, 8 Reb, 3 Stl

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Senior guard Kylee Scheer provided the opening basket with a left-handed layup to launch a 7-0 run capped off on a three-pointer from the right elbow by Mary Nyakundi with 6:55 left.
  • Mid-America Christian (11-1, 7-1 SAC) proceeded to go on a four minute and 32 second scoring drought, however MACU put up a strong defensive front holding Oklahoma City (5-8, 5-4 SAC) scoreless for the first 5:42 until Jerney Bennett got the Stars on the board with a free throw.
  • The rest of the quarter was a struggle for both teams as OCU's Brooke Curry banged a three from the elbow and Syncere Harrod connected on a lone free throw making it 8-4 MACU while concluding scoring in the quarter with 2:23 remaining.
• Second Quarter
  • A Jerzie Bryant three-point play off the foul by Mia Smith allowed Oklahoma City to take its first lead of the contest up 9-8 1:06 into the quarter.
  • MACU recaptured the lead off a mid-ranged jumper from Syncere Harrod, however the Stars went on a 10-1 run keeping MACU scoreless for 6 minutes and 17 seconds finally getting back in the scoring column off Sydney Savage's first bucket of the year on a spin move lay-in with 1:05 to go.
  • With :28 seconds left in the half Nyakundi brought it back to a two-possession game on a drive to the right side of the basket making it 19-15 OCU entering the halftime break.
• Third Quarter
  • The Evangels leading scorer Shy Christopher found her first field goal of the game :17 seconds in kicking off scoring in the half, after a pair of buckets brought OCU's lead to 23-17 Scheer drained a three from the top of the arc on the dish from Harley Harbour with 7:37 remaining.
  • Both teams exchanged baskets over the next 5:23 with the Evangels having a slight 9-6 edge and tying it up in the process on a pair of free throws from Savage knotting it up at 29-29.
  • After being outscored 6-2 over the next 1:53 Alexis Borgstadt connected on a set of free throws to make it a one-possession game with the Stars leading 35-33 entering the last frame.
• Fourth Quarter
  • The scoring woes for both sides continued with OCU having a 6-5 advantage over the first four minutes and 42 seconds. MACU once again tied it up on Christopher's cross-court pass into the corner finding Nyakundi who splashed a trey making it 41-41 with 5:08 to play.
  • With 4:19 left, Nyakundi and Christopher connected again this time on Nyakundi's kickout after rebounding her own miss spotting Christopher on the left elbow to bang a three-pointer and give MACU its first lead since the first quarter. Following Christopher's trey, Scheer hit nothing but net on a deep three to draw the Evangels lead to 47-43 with 2:31 remaining.
  • The Stars brought it back to a two-point game on a layup by Amaya Gordon, however Nyakundi drew a foul driving to the paint with the shot clock winding down and then knocked down both free throws to go up 49-45. After OCU elected to call timeout, the inbound pass was thrown away by Gordan allowing Mia Smith to scoop it up to find Christopher on the easy fast break score.
  • The Evangels added on two more on free throws from Mia Smith and Nyakundi while holding the Stars scoreless in the process to outscore them 20-10 in the quarter and run away with a 53-45 win.

GAME NOTES

• Despite putting up a season low of points with 53 on 15-of-66 (22.7 percent) from the field Mid-America Christian limited Oklahoma City to 15-of-49 (30.6 percent) while forcing 26 turnovers.
• MACU's defense made the Stars uncomfortable all game long with a turnover ratio of 26-12, OCU also struggled at the charity stripe going 12-for-23 (52.2 percent).
• With 16 steals on the day the Evangels fell just one short of their season high which came against Central Christian in the 86-73 victory inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
• Mid-America Chrisitan's 53 points marked the lowest since Feb. 20, 2020 in the 88-51 loss that also came against Oklahoma City. It marked the lowest points in a victory dating back almost a calendar year in the 56-54 win over Texas Wesleyan.
• Shy Christopher led the Evangels in scoring with 18 points going 6-of-17 from the field while going 5-of-8 from the free throw line.
• Mary Nyakundi reached double-digits in scoring in back-to-back games for the first time this season as well as making two or more threes for the second straight game. She also brought down a season high 9 boards which was a team high.
• It was a relatively quiet afternoon for Talayah Thomas and Harley Harbour as they both did not get into the scoring column. Harbour did tack on a game high three steals.
• Sydney Savage made her season debut after being out due to injury, she played a big part coming off the bench adding six points, five rebounds, and a steal.
• With the victory, the Evangels picked up their second consecutive win over OCU dating back to last season.

UP NEXT

• The Evangels will enter Christmas break with season play getting back in session inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday, Jan. 2 against Science & Arts with a tip-off set for 6 p.m.