OKLAHOMA CITY – With the MACU women's basketball team's Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament life hanging in the balance, junior guard Shy Christopher came up with the biggest game of her career. Christopher scored a career-high 35 points and scoring the go-ahead bucket in the final minute to propel the Evangels to 72-66 victory over No. 5 seed Science & Arts in the SAC Quarterfinal inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 35 Points, 12-22 FG, 3-8 3FG, 8-10 FT, 6 Reb, 2 Assists
• Jaci Calavan – 14 Points, 5-16 FG, 4-14 3FG
• Kylee Scheer – 13 Points, 4-11 FG, 2-8 3FG, 3-4 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Assists, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Science & Arts (19-10) jumped out to a fast start, scoring the first six points as Lainey Morrow's foul shots with 8:27 left made it a 6-0 game.
  • Kylee Scheer's deep left-wing three on the ensuing possession finally ignited the Mid-America Christian (22-7) offense as Shy Christopher buried a pair of threes over MACU's following four possessions to take a 9-6 lead at the 6:21 mark.
  • A Crystal Ortiz three-point play and another Scheer triple brought MACU's edge back to three, but the Drovers scored the next four to recapture a 13-12 edge with 3:10 remaining.
  • Both teams struggled to find a bucket over the final three minutes as a lone Christopher free throw was the only score until the junior guard drained a pull-up right elbow jumper just before the buzzer to give MACU the 15-13 lead after one.
• Second Quarter
  • Much like the opening quarter, the Drovers started the second period by scoring the first six points as another Morrow lay-in at the 7:44 mark made it a 19-15 USAO edge.
  • Science & Arts managed to extend its lead to five on a Bryanna Polk steal and fastbreak layup with 5:36 to go before Hallie Reed stemmed the tide for MACU. The senior guard knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions to start an 8-0 run that was finished on two Christopher free throws with 3:46 left to make it a 28-25 MACU advantage.
  • The Drovers once again battled back with an 8-3 surge to recapture a 33-31 lead with 47 seconds to go on Tonijah Fortune's lay-in, but once again, Christopher sent MACU into the locker room on-top by knocking down a buzzer-beating three from the top of the key, setting the score to 34-33 at the break.
• Third Quarter
  • The second half started as a heavyweight slugfest with the Evangels and Drovers answering each other's every score before USAO finally mustered six-unanswered on threes from Diaka Berete and Ortiz to capture a 46-43 lead with 3:52 remaining.
  • USAO held the advantage heading toward the final minute before the Evangels made their push. Alexis Borgstadt cut it to a one-point game on a spin move and split the double team with a lay-in at the 1:14 mark before Christopher once again gave MACU the edge back at 51-50 on a shot clock-beating left lane drive and scoop shot with 21 seconds to go.
  • The Drovers did have one last chance to retake the lead, but Ashley Hopper swatted away a Berete layup in the final seconds to hold MACU's one-point edge after three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • The final period lived up to the billing of the first three quarters as there were five lead changes over the first four minutes before Berete's contested three from the right wing at the 6:10 mark made it a 60-57 Drovers' advantage.
  • USAO held on to its lead over the next five minutes, extending its edge to as much as five at 66-61 on Brayanna Polk free throw with 1:54 remaining before MACU made its charge.
  • The Evangels got the run started when Christopher got the friendly roll on a tough fadeaway midrange jumper in the paint before a USAO foul away from the shot gave MACU an extra possession. After Hopper gathered an offensive board, she found Jaci Calavan wide open for a left-wing three to tie the game up at 66-66 with 1:19 left.
  • After getting the defensive stop, MACU once again went to Christopher as she drove down the left side, got the fade away jumper to fall and drew the foul with 38 seconds to go, finishing off the three-point play to push MACU in-front 69-66.
  • The Evangels came up with three more defensive stops the rest of the way while sealing the game away from the charity stripe as MACU secured the 72-66 win.

GAME NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian was able to finish with 11 made threes, the Evangels managed to overcome a tough shooting night from the perimeter as MACU shot 25-for-61 (41.0 percent) from the field, 11-of-37 (29.7 percent) from three and efficiently converted on 11-for-14 (78.6 percent from the free throw line.
• Science & Arts managed to finish with the same amount of made shots, going 25-for-58 (43.1 percent) from the floor and 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from the arc, but had limited opportunities from the foul stripe at 8-for-9 (88.9 percent).
• Both teams were relatively even on the glass as USAO held a slim 37-36 edge in the rebounding battle, but the Evangels were much more efficient on their limited second chances as MACU's 8-6 lead in the offensive boards resulted in the Evangels outscoring the Drovers 16-6 in second chance opportunities.
• The two squads also did a great job of taking care of the basketball as MACU finished with its third-fewest turnovers of the season (7) while the Drovers gave it away only 10 times.
• For the third time this season, Shy Christopher eclipsed 30 points in a game as her 35-point performance tied her career-best set in a 72-58 win over Southwestern Christian inside the Gaulke on Jan. 29. The Jacksonville, Arkansas native knocked down a career-most three made three-pointers while shooting an incredibly efficient 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) and 8-of-10 (80 percent) from the foul line.
• In a very rare occurrence, only five Evangels managed to break into the scoring column as Jaci Calavan and Kylee Scheer were the only two MACU players outside of Christopher to break double-digits. Calavan tallied 14 points while Scheer padded the stat line with 13 points, tied Christopher for a team-high six boards, also tied both Mia Smith and Ashley Hopper with four assists and notched a pair of steals.
• With the victory, Mid-America Christian defeated the Drovers for the third time this season with another contest going down to the wire. In the two teams' previous meeting down in Chickasha, the Evangels came away with a dramatic 79-78 victory after Hopper was fouled with less than a second left and converted on one-of-two free throws to seal the win on Feb. 3.
• The win also propelled MACU to its third appearance in the SAC Semifinals in the last five years.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now compete in the SAC Semifinal Round, which will be played inside the Sid Richardson Center on the campus of Texas Wesleyan University on Mar. 4. The Evangels will be looking to upend top-seeded No. 13 John Brown (Ark.) in the opening semi slated for a 6 p.m. tip-off.