DALLAS, Texas. – No. 18 MACU Women's basketball team overcame a slow start from the field to take down UNT Dallas putting up 46 points in the second half and 40 bench points overall in the victory. Syncere Harrod and Hailey Tunnell both had phenomenal days from the floor in the bounce-back victory for the Evangels.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Syncere Harrod – 23 Points, 9-13 FG, 5-7 FT, 4 Reb
• Hailey Tunnell – 12 Points, 4-5 3PM, 7 Reb
• Mary Nyakundi – 8 Points, 6 Reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Harley Harbour opened up the scoring connecting on back-to-back layups giving Mid-America Christian (15-2, 11-2 SAC) an early 4-0 lead under a minute into the contest.
  • The next five minutes went in favor of UNT Dallas (4-12, 3-11 SAC) as they struck for an 8-1 run capped off on a hook shot from Eryka Patton to provide an 8-5 lead for the Trailblazers with 4:11 left.
  • After checking in off the bench Hailey Tunnell led the charge in an 8-2 surge banging back-to-back triples to get the Evangels offense back in rhythm with a 14-11 advantage. UNT Dallas proceeded to close out the quarter on another bucket by Patton to tie it up at 14 entering the second.
• Second Quarter
  • The Evangels offense ran into a hot streak after a cold start, with Syncere Harrod going full takeover mode scoring nine of the 11 points in an 11-2 run providing a 27-16 MACU edge with 5:35 remaining.
  • A hot start to the quarter for Mid-America Christian quickly shifted with the Trailblazers coming through with a run of their own putting up seven unanswered to cut the Evangels lead to 27-23.
  • The final 4:20 consisted of little scoring with a slight 4-3 edge in favor of the Evangels to give MACU a 31-26 lead with the final score of the half going the Trailblazers way off a three-ball from Mya Bills with :47 seconds left.
• Third Quarter
  • UNT Dallas scored six of the first nine points of the quarter with all six Trailblazer points coming from Patton to cut Evangels lead to 34-32 with just over eight minutes to play.
  • Shy Christopher took a trip to the charity stripe starting off a 7-0 run that featured another trey-ball from Tunnell. Harrod concluded the run on a lay-in off Talayah Thomas's third assist of the contest to bring MACU's lead back up to 41-32 with 5:26 to go.
  • Back-to-back three's for UNT Dallas by Mya Bills and Lauren Pete brought it back to a one-possession game with the Evangels leading 41-38.
  • The Evangels closed out the quarter on a 15-5 tear over the last 4:20 with Harrod continuing to dominate as she scored nine of the 15 points to give Mid-America Christian a 56-43 lead heading into the final quarter.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Both teams traded buckets for the first four and a half minutes with a slight 11-8 edge going in favor of MACU.
  • Tunnell sunk her fourth three of the contest this time in the corner on the dish from Scheer which ignited a 10-2 run that blew the gates open giving a comfortable 77-53 lead.
  • The Trailblazers connected on back-to-back possessions, but it was far too late allowing the Evangels to run away with a 77-57 victory.

GAME NOTES

• After a sluggish start, Mid-America Christian turned in a solid day from the field outshooting UNT Dallas 27-of-62 (43.5 percent) compared to 21-of-64 (32.8 percent.)
• The Evangels dominated in multiple aspects with a 50-33 advantage on the boards as well as a whooping 40 bench points compared to the Trailblazers 17.
• The second half was the difference maker with the Evangels stringing together 46 points in the second half to just 31 in the first.
• Four Evangels reached double-digit scoring with Syncere Harrod having a game high and Evangel career high of 23. Harrod's two highest scoring games of the season both occurred against UNT Dallas with her 19-point performance on Nov. 14.
• Hailey Tunnell contributed greatly as well, coming off the bench tying her career-high in threes with four. She finished 4-of-7 overall with an impressive 4-of-5 behind the arc. She also led the Evangels with seven rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double.
• Mary Nyakundi had a relatively solid day as she cashed in for eight points, adding on six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks.
• Despite a smaller sample size, 5-of-11 from three marked the highest percentage of the season (45.5 percent) for the Evangels.
• Adjusting to the MACU second unit has been an issue for UNT Dallas, with 40 points today the Evangels scored at least 33 bench points against them in both matchups this season.
• With the win Mid-America Christian moves to 8-0 all-time against UNT Dallas.

UP NEXT

• The Evangels will return home to play inside the Gaulke Activity Center with a 2 p.m. tip-off against Nelson this Saturday Jan. 18.