WICHITA, Kan. – The MACU Women's Basketball struggled in the second half, being outscored Friends 51-29 in the second half as the Evangels fell 81-68 inside the Garvey Center on Saturday afternoon in their season-opener.

SCORE

• Friends 81, Mid-America Christian 68
  • Mid-America Christian (0-1)
  • Friends (1-0)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Mia Smith – 15 Points, 6-16 FG, 2-5 3FG, 4 Reb, 3 Assists
• Talayah Thomas – 13 Points, 5-17 FG, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb
• Sincere Roberts – 12 Points, 5-20 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6 Reb, 2 Assists
• Monique Carter – 10 Points, 4-10 FG, 2-3 FT, 7 Assists, 3 Reb, 3 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • It was tough scoring for both sides in the early going before Taliah Lee gave Mid-America Christian its first lead at 4-3 with 6:20 to go on a drive and dish by Monique Carter for the right side three.
  • Friends responded with five unanswered before Sincere Roberts ended the cold spell with a strong take down the right side, cutting the deficit to 8-6 with 4:36 left.
  • The Falcons built their largest lead of the quarter on a Rayland Gardner steal and layup to make it 13-6 before Caitlynn Jordan snapped the spell again with a right-side three to trim it to a four-point game at 13-9 at the 2:48 mark.
  • In the final minute, MACU chipped their way back with another Roberts lay-in with 44 seconds remaining before Aniya Smith got the buzzer-beating layup to fall following an Abigail Barr bucket to cut it to a 15-13 lead at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • Talayah Thomas tied it up for the Evangels with a midrange runner with 9:18 to go before Carter gave MACU its first lead of the quarter at 17-16 on a shot clock beating elbow jumper with seven-and-a-half to go.
  • Friends converted on back-to-back buckets before Mia Smith willed MACU back in-front with a pair of midrange runners to set the score to 21-20 with 5:43 on the clock.
  • After the Falcons knocked down a right elbow three from Katie Weiss at the 5:15 mark, the Evangels started to catch fire from downtown, knocking down a pair of threes from Aniya Smith and Roberts to start a 13-2 run capped off on Mia Smith right corner three with 2:29 left, setting the score to 34-25.
  • MACU briefly extended its lead to double-figures on a Roberts pull-up jumper in the paint with 10 seconds left, but a foul with 0.7 seconds left allowed the Falcons to knock a point off on Ryland Garner's foul shot to send MACU into the break leading 39-30.
• Third Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian scored five of the first seven, extending the lead to 44-32 on Mia Smith's three-ball with 8:44, but Friends started to get hot over the next few minutes, outscoring MACU 17-6 over the next few minutes as Rayland Garner's layup with 4:22 to go closed it to 50-49.
  • With just under four minutes left, the Evangels finally snapped their spell on Thomas' right corner three, but Friends had an immediate answer on its end with Katie Weiss burying a left corner triple with 3:48 left to close it back to 53-52.
  • The Falcons took their first lead since early in the second quarter on another Weiss three from the right wing with two minutes left before Mia Smith briefly put the Evangels back in-front by dribbling between three defenders for a scoop shot layup, bringing it to 56-55 with 1:49 left.
  • Friends scored six of the final eight over the last minute and a half to seize a 61-58 lead at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian struggled to slow down the Falcons to start the fourth as the Falcons opened with a 9-0 run before Roberts finally snapped the run with a left-wing three-ball off the second chance to cut it back to single-digits at 70-61 with just under seven minutes left.
  • Both teams struggled to score over the next five minutes as the Falcons scored the next five before Thomas got back in the scoring column with a pair of free throws, setting it to 75-63 with 3:52 to go.
  • The Evangels were unable to muster a rally as the Falcons held on for the 81-68 victory.

GAME NOTES

• It was a tough shooting night for Mid-America Christian, going 27-for-82 (32.9 percent) from the field, including 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from three-point range while Friends finished 28-for-63 (44.4 percent) and 6-of-20 (30 percent) from three.
• The Falcons took advantage of their ability to get to the foul line, going 19-for-30 (63.3 percent) while the Evangels only got to the line nine times while converting six tries (66.7 percent).
• Friends also held a commanding advantage on the glass, out-rebounding the Evangels by a commanding 60-35 margin, holding a 17-13 edge on the offensive glass.
• However, one area MACU excelled was in the turnover battle, forcing Friends into 23 giveaways while coming only 12.
• Overall, five Evangels finished in double-figures, led by Mia Smith with 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting, going 2-for-5 from behind the arc to go with four boards and three assists.
• Talayah Thomas added 13 points with six boards while Sincere Roberts poured in 12 with six rebounds in her Evangels debut.
• Monique Carter led the distribution efforts with seven assists and only one turnover to go with 10 points while Aniya Smith poured in a career-high 10 points off the bench.
• Facing the Falcons for the first time in 20 years, the Evangels dropped to 1-2 in the all-time series with the last coming in a 61-51 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Nov. 10, 2006.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will look for its first win of the season during Homecoming on Saturday, Nov. 1 as the Evangels host Arlington Baptist for a 5 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.