WBB TXWES Postgame - 1/4/25
Gregg Reeves
55
Winner Mid-America Christian MACU 13-1, 9-1
53
Texas Wesleyan TXWES 9-5, 5-5
Winner
Mid-America Christian MACU
13-1, 9-1
55
Final
53
Texas Wesleyan TXWES
9-5, 5-5
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Mid-America Christian MACU 9 8 17 21 55
Texas Wesleyan TXWES 18 16 7 12 53

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

No. 18 Women’s Basketball Rallies From 17 Down to Defeat Texas Wesleyan, 55-53

FORT WORTH, Texas – After trailing by 17 at the halftime break and 10 points early in the fourth quarter, No. 12 MACU Women's Basketball surged its way back in the fourth quarter as Shy Christopher's go-ahead jumper with eight seconds left propelled the Evangels to a 55-53 victory over Texas Wesleyan inside the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday.
 
TOP PERFORMERS GAME SUMMARY
  • First Quarter
    • After trading the first two points through the first minute, Texas Wesleyan (record) clamped down on the MACU defense over the next five minutes as a 6-0 Rams run stretched the TXWES advantage to 8-2 with 5:22 to go on Kamryn Gibson's midrange jumper.
    • Mid-America Christian (record) finally snapped the skid at the 4:37 mark on a Harley Harbour lay-in at the 4:37 mark before Mia Smith knocked down a pair of free throws with just under four minutes to go to cut the deficit to 8-6.
    • MACU's offense struggled to get back into the offensive rhythm over the final four minutes as the Rams closed out the quarter with a 10-3 run to stretch their lead to 18-9.
  • Second Quarter
    • The Rams extended their lead to double-figures to start off the second stanza by scoring the first five points before the Evangels immediately closed it back to nine on a Hailey Tunnell three-pointer from the right wing followed by a Shy Christopher lay-in at the 7:48 mark to make it 23-14.
    • Texas Wesleyan dominated the next four minutes, holding MACU to without a field goal while going on a 9-1 surge to stretch its lead to 32-15 with 5:41 remaining on an Aniyah Sanford three-pointer from the right elbow.
    • Both teams struggled to find a score over the final five minutes as the only buckets came on a Mia Smith lay-in at the 3:37 mark and a Sanford layup with 1:05 remaining to allow the Rams to go into the break with the 34-17 advantage.
    • MACU's offensive struggles proved to be the largest difference as the Evangels committed 10 more turnovers (15-5) and shot just 26.1 percent in the opening half compared to 44.4 percent for the Rams.
  • Third Quarter
    • Mid-America Christian came out with a stifling defensive effort to start out the second half as the Evangels held the Rams to without a field goal through the first four-and-a-half minutes. During the stretch, MACU strung together a 7-2 run as Nyakundi's foul shot with 5:42 to go closed it to a 36-24 game.
    • Texas Wesleyan finally snapped its offensive slump on the ensuing possession on Payton Foster's three-pointer with 5:34 to go, but the Evangels immediately swung back with another eight-unanswered with Sydney Savage getting an offensive board and putback with 3:01 left close the gap to 39-32.
    • While a Taryn Wills floating jumper at the 1:09 mark briefly pushed the TXWES lead up to nine before Nyakundi knocked down two more free throws with four seconds to set the score to 41-34 at the end of three.
  • Fourth Quarter
    • Texas Wesleyan briefly extended its lead back out to 10 early in the fourth as a Sophia Hurtado triple from the top of the key set the score to 46-36 with 7:52 to go.
    • A Mary Nyakundi left corner three with just over 7:05 left reignited the MACU offense as the Evangels went on a 12-2 run with Christopher converting an old-fashioned three-point play to close it to two before she put in the right side lay-in off a stellar Harbour dish from the elbow to tie the game at 48-all with 2:28 to go.
    • TXWES's Savanna Smith and Talayah Thomas traded threes on back-to-back possessions to keep things deadlocked before a Kamryn Gibson midrange jumper briefly put the Rams back in-front 53-51 with 1:23 remaining.
    • With the shot clock winding down, Kylee Scheer found Christopher for the open short jumper to tie it up with 54 seconds on the clock before Harbour came up with a huge defensive board on the ensuing possession to give MACU the opportunity to take its first lead.
    • With the shot clock winding down again, Christopher once again came up clutch by spinning through a double team at the free throw line before hitting the floating runner with eight seconds left to give MACU the 55-53 advantage.
    • The Rams had one last chance to tie the game and got and got a good look on the right post, but Wills lay-in rolled out and Scheer came up with the defensive board as time expired.
GAME NOTES
  • After being held to just 17 points and committing 15 turnovers in the first half, Mid-America Christian showed dramatic improvement in the second half, outscoring Texas Wesleyan 38-19 in the second half to finish 19-for-49 (38.8 percent) from the field, 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from three and went 12-for-18 (66.7 percent from the stripe. The Evangels also did a much better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half, committing just three giveaways over the final 20 minutes.
  • The MACU defense frustrated Texas Wesleyan, holding the Rams to just 22-of-64 (34.4 percent) shooting, including 5-for-20 (25.0 percent) from three while also doing a good job of keeping TXWES off the line to just 4-for-4 for the contest.
  • Mid-America Christian downright dominated the glass, outrebounding the Rams 39-28.
  • Despite being held to just two points in the first half and five points through the first three quarters, Shy Christopher came alive in the fourth quarter to finish with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, while narrowly missing a double-double with nine boards and a pair of assists.
  • Mary Nyakundi in her return to her former school was the only other Evangel to score in double-figures with 13 points on 3-for-4 from the field, including 2-of-2 from three and 5-for-6 from the line to go with six boards and a team-high three assists.
  • Harley Harbour narrowly missed breaking into double-digits after finishing with nine points on on 4-of-6 from the field to go with six boards while Talayah Thomas led the rebounding efforts with a career-high 10 boards to go with six points.
  • With the victory, MACU has now won four-straight games against the Rams, including marking the second-straight year that the Evangels won a two-point game inside the Sid Richardson Center.
UP NEXT
  • Mid-America Christian will be back at home on Thursday night as the Evangels host Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
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