FORT WORTH, Texas – The MACU women's basketball team put up a tough fight against the top-seeded No. 13 John Brown (Ark.) in the Sooner Athletic Conference Semifinal inside the Sid Richardson Center on the campus of Texas Wesleyan University, but ultimately fell to the Golden Eagles 71-63 on Monday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Kylee Scheer – 19 Points, 7-10 FG, 4-6 3FG, 7 Reb, 2 Assists
• Shy Christopher – 17 Points, 6-15 FG, 5-9 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Assists
• Jaci Calavan – 16 Points, 6-20 FG, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (22-7) struggled to break into the scoring column through the first seven minutes as John Brown (26-3) opened the contest with an 8-0 run before Jaci Calavan finally broke the Evangels into the scoring column with a tough left-handed layup to beat the shot clock with 3:56 left.
  • MACU managed to cut it to a three-point game on Kylee Scheer's deep three from the top of the key with 1:56 to go before JBU extended it back to a five-point advantage on Graci Harris' lay-in at the 42 second mark.
  • The Evangels managed to cut it to a three-point game on the ensuing possession on a tough contested pull-up midrange jumper by Calavan and MACU got the defensive stop to make it a 10-7 game at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • MACU cut it to 10-9 on its first possession of the period with Scheer cutting in for the right-side layup, but JBU scored the next six on a pair of threes from Abbey Sanders and Briley Burns to extend its lead back to 16-9 with 7:40 to go.
  • A Scheer steal and fastbreak layup knocked the deficit down to 16-12 with 6:33 left before the Golden Eagles swung back with an 11-2 run over the next two minutes to take its largest lead of the half at 27-14 on Tarrah Stephens drive and score with 4:13 remaining.
  • The Evangels scored eight of the final 12 points to close out the quarter as a Calavan triple from deep at the top of the key cut it to 34-27, but JBU pushed it back out to nine on a pair of Natalie Smith free throws with four seconds left to make it a 36-27 game at the halftime break.
• Third Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian came out on-fire to start the second half, opening with a 10-2 run to close it to a one-point game at 38-37 on Shy Christopher's hoop-and-harm in the right block with 6:13 left.
  • Following a Harris lay-in, the Evangels captured their first lead following another Christopher bucket before Calavan muscled in a tough contested shot in the low block at the 3:56 mark to make it a 41-40 game.
  • After Sanders and Scheer traded a pair of threes, John Brown scored eight of the next 11 points to take back a five-point advantage at 52-47 on Bella Irlenborn's midrange jumper with 37 seconds to go.
  • The Evangels closed out the quarter by scoring the final four points as Scheer knocked down a 25-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the MACU deficit to 52-51.
• Fourth Quarter
  • The Golden Eagles managed to quickly build their lead back out to six on a Leah Anderson three and a Emily Sanders layup through the first two minutes before MACU swung back with five-unanswered of its own an Alexis Borgstadt left-wing three and a pair of Calavan foul shots, closing it back to a one-point game at 57-56 with 7:26 left.
  • JBU's defense frustrated MACU over the next six minutes as the Evangels were held scoreless while the Golden Eagles built a 66-56 advantage on Harris' lay-in with 1:29 remaining.
  • Calavan finally snapped MACU's cold spell with a three on the ensuing possession, but the Evangels couldn't climb any closer as John Brown closed out with the 71-63 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together two strong offensive performances in the second and third quarter, but struggled in the opening and closing 10 minutes of the contest to finish 23-of-60 (38.3 percent) while shooting 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) from three and 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from the free throw line.
• The Evangels defensively struggled to slow down John Brown's offensive efforts as JBU shot 26-for-54 (48.1 percent), 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from three and converted on 10-for-11 (90.9 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Kylee Scheer led three MACU players into double-figures with 19 points on a red-hot 7-of-10 shooting, going 4-for-6 from the three-point arc while also leading the team's rebounding efforts with seven boards to go with a pair of assists.
• Shy Christopher finished with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting with three boards and two assists while Jaci Calavan tallied 16 points with six rebounds and two steals.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now await to find out its postseason fate. The Evangels will be looking to break back into the NAIA Tournament field for the fourth-straight year as the NAIA's Selection Show will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday.