OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU women's basketball team locked up one of the top four seeds in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament after pulling away with an 82-55 win over Oklahoma City inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 17 Points, 6-16 FG, 4-5 FT, 10 Reb, 4 Steals, 2 Assists
• Jaci Calavan – 17 Points, 7-15 FG, 2-9 3FG, 4 Reb
• Kylee Scheer – 14 Points, 5-12 FG, 4-4 FT, 6 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Oklahoma City (6-21, 5-16 SAC) jumped out to a fast start, scoring nine of the first 11 points to take its largest lead of the game at 9-2 on a pair of Amaya Gordon free throws with 7:12 left.
  • In the second half of the quarter, Mid-America Christian (21-6, 15-6 SAC) put together an 11-2 run, capturing an 18-15 lead with 1:25 to go on a pair of free throws each from Sydney Adee and Alexis Borgstadt.
  • After OCU's Jazmin Adams pushed in a layup to cut the MACU lead to one, Shy Christopher stretched the Evangels' advantage back to three on a strong take down the left side, scooping in the layup with three seconds left to make it a 20-17 game at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • The Evangels defense completely shut down Oklahoma City to start the second period, holding the Stars scoreless for the first six minutes while putting together a 15-unanswered run capped off on Jaci Calavan's fastbreak three from the top of the key to make it a 35-17 game with 4:17 remaining.
  • OCU scored six of the next seven to close the gap to 36-23 on Annalyn Bohner's three from the left wing on Jazmin Adams' baseline save with 2:48 left, but MACU countered with a 9-1 run of its own to stretch its lead to 45-24 on Christopher's hoop-and-harm with 25 seconds left.
  • The Stars managed to get four points back from the free throw line in the final 19 seconds to set the score to 45-28 at the halftime break.
• Third Quarter
  • After a back-and-forth battle through the first three minutes, Mid-America Christian rattled off eight-straight as a Christopher steal at the top of the key led to a fastbreak lay-in, extending the Evangels' advantage to 57-34 at the 2:28 mark.
  • The Evangels and Stars traded the next 11 points as a Christopher split a double team driving from the left side through the paint, finishing on the right-handed layup to make it a 63-39 contest with 18 seconds left before MACU got the defensive stop at the buzzer.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Kayla Highfill finished off a three-point play on MACU's first possession of the period to stretch the lead to 66-39 with 9:45 left before the Stars gradually trimmed the Evangels' edge down to 71-50 on Adams' finish in the paint.
  • After trading the next two scores, the Evangels scored seven-unanswered behind a Hallie Reed three and a pair of layups from Ashley Hopper and Sydney Adee to set the score to 80-52 with 38 seconds left.
  • OCU's Hannah Grundy knocked down a three on OCU's last offensive possession, but Reed found Hopper wide-open for a fastbreak layup on MACU's final possession to wrap-up up the 82-55 final.

GAME NOTES

• It was a tough shooting night for Mid-America Christian as the Evangels finished 29-for-82 (35.4 percent) from the field and 6-of-27 (22.2 percent) from three, but shot an incredibly efficient 18-for-21 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line.
• The Evangels defense held the Stars to just 20-of-55 (36.4 percent) shooting and 3-for-12 (25 percent) from the three-point arc while OCU buried 12-of-16 (75 percent) of its free throws.
• MACU did a stellar job of taking care of the basketball as the Evangels finished with their fewest turnovers of the season at five while forcing the Stars into 14 giveaways to hold a 14-3 edge in points off turnovers.
• Mid-America Christian also dominated in the rebounding department with a 57-37 edge on the glass, including an astounding 23-4 margin in offensive boards. As a result, the Evangels commanded a 27-2 lead in second chance points.
• Offensively, the Evangels were led by Shy Christopher and Jaci Calavan at 17 points apiece while Christopher notched her third double-double of the season with 10 boards and tied a season-high four steals.
• With her 17-point effort, Christopher surpassed Sarai Rodriguez (1015) for third on MACU's NAIA Era (2007-present) career scoring list with her 1018^th career point. The Jacksonville, Arkansas native now only sits behind Alexis Shannon (1853) and Ossyana Ozoani (1093) on the list.
• Kylee Scheer was the only other Evangel to break into double-figures with 14 points to go with six boards and tying a team-high three assists with Mia Smith.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian split the season series with the Stars after OCU won the previous meeting inside Abe Lemons Arena on Jan. 11 by a score of 75-69. The Evangels also extended their win streak to 11 games with the victory.
• The Evangels with the victory have locked up no worse than the No. 4 seed in SAC Tournament as MACU holds the tiebreaker over Science & Arts for the No. 4 seed if the Evangels fall at No. 13 John Brown in the season finale. If MACU is able to hand the Golden Eagles their first defeat in SAC play, it will have the opportunity to claim the No. 3 seed if Wayland Baptist falls at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday.
• Before tip-off of the game, Christopher was presented a commemorative game ball and photo graph after reaching 1000 career points in MACU's 97-74 Senior Day win over UNT Dallas on Saturday.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up the regular season with one of its biggest games of the year on Saturday as the Evangels head to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to battle the 2023-24 SAC Champion John Brown at 2 p.m. inside Bill George Arena.