POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The No. 22 MACU Women's Basketball team suffered a tough 81-76 defeat at College of the Ozarks as the Bobcats went on a 10-0 run to close out the contest inside Keeter Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 30 Points, 12-21 FG, 6-9 FT, 6 Reb, 2 Assists
• Hailey Tunnell – 17 Points, 6-13 FG, 5-12 3FG
• Kendrick Bailey – 9 Points, 3-5 FG, 2-3 3FG, 3 Reb
• Kylee Scheer – 8 Points, 3-8 FG, 9 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (19-4, 15-4 SAC) needed to overcome an ice-cold start from the field as College of the Ozarks (15-7, 13-5 SAC) scored the first seven points before a pair of Shy Christopher free throws with 6:11 to go put MACU on the board.
  • The Bobcats continued to build to their lead over the next few minutes, rattling off seven-unanswered to make it a 14-2 edge on Keara Mattingley's left-hand lay-in.
  • Hailey Tunnell finally made MACU's first field goal with a deep three from the left wing with 3:41 left, jumpstarting a 7-0 MACU edge capped off on a pair of Mia Smith free throws to make it 14-9 with 2:08 to go.
  • A Logan Jones three on the ensuing possession briefly pushed it back to an eight-point COFO advantage before MACU closed out the half on a 6-2 surge as Kendrick Bailey drained a deep three and Shy Christopher had a steal and layup before she knocked down a free throw with four seconds left to make it a 19-15 game.
• Second Quarter
  • A pair of buckets from Logan Jones Susana Moran sparked an 11-4 Bobcats run through the first five-and-a-half minutes as Moran's free throw with 4:38 remaining extended the COFO lead to 30-19.
  • A Christopher lay-in on the ensuing possession finally sparked the MACU offense as the Evangels went on an 11-1 surge while the senior guard also ended the run with an and-one to close the gap to 31-30 with 2:21 to go.
  • While a Savannah Ketchum layup at the 1:07 mark briefly extended the Bobcats lead to three, Mid-America Christian finished the half strong by scoring the final four points as Tunnell knocked down a midrange with 52 seconds left. On the final possession, Kylee Scheer came up with a huge offensive board and threw up a fallaway jumper that banked in at the buzzer to send MACU into the break with a 34-33 lead.
• Third Quarter
  • While a Syncere Harrod jumper right out of the gate pushed the MACU edge out to three the Bobcats scored the next four to take the lead on Moran's jumper with 8:32 left to set the score to 37-36.
  • The two teams exchanged the lead four more times over the next few minutes before Christopher sparked a 7-0 MACU streak as Tunnell buried a three to extend the Evangels lead to 47-41 with 5:26 left.
  • COFO managed to knock it back to four-point game, but two more Christopher buckets and a Kylee Scheer free throw extended the MACU lead to 57-48 with 2:25 to go.
  • Following a Mia Smith layup to make it 59-50 with just under two minutes to go, Ozarks closed out the period with an 8-0 run to cut it to 59-58 at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • The tandem of Christopher and Tunnell extended it back to six right off the bat with a layup and a three and even though COFO scored the next four to cut it back to two-point game, back-to-back treys by Kendrick Bailey and Scheer stretched it to a 70-62 MACU advantage with 6:11 remaining.
  • The Evangels hit a cold slump over the next three minutes as the Bobcats strung together nine straight to take a 71-70 lead with 3:29 on the clock before Bailey sparked a six-unanswered run with an and-one bucket before Christopher finished off an old-fashioned three-point play of her own with 2:08 to go to make it a 76-71 MACU advantage.
  • Unfortunately, the Evangels were unable to keep the momentum going through the final two minutes as Ozarks finished the contest by scoring 10 unanswered to come away with the 81-76 win.

GAME NOTES

• College of the Ozarks managed to out-shoot Mid-America Christian as the Bobcats went 28-for-59 (47.5 percent) from the field and converted on 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) from three-point range while the Evangels finished 28-of-67 (41.8 percent) and while going 9-for-24 (37.5 percent) from downtown.
• Free throw shooting played a big part in the result as the Bobcats knocked down 18-for-28 (64.3 percent) while the Evangels were held to just 11-of-18 (61.1 percent).
• Even though MACU dominated the glass, outrebounding COFO with a 12-6 edge on the offensive end, College of the Ozarks won the turnover battle by forcing 14 MACU giveaways while committing 10 of its own.
• One of MACU's all-time leading scorers, senior guard Shy Christopher recorded her first 30-point game since dropping 33 points in the season-opener against No. 2 Providence (Mont.), finishing with 30 points on 12-of-21 shooting and went 6-for-9 from the foul line to go with six rebounds and a pair of assists.
• Hailey Tunnell and Kendrick Bailey provided a massive spark off the MACU bench as Tunnell turned in a career-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, going 5-for-12 from three-point range. Transferring in at semester, Bailey made her biggest impact since becoming an Evangel, notching nine points on 3-of-5 from the field, 2-for-3 from three.
• Kylee Scheer narrowly missed recording a double-double in the contest, scoring eight points on 3-of-8 shooting and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
• Mia Smith led MACU's distribution efforts off the bench, tallying four assists to go along with six points and six boards.
• With the loss, MACU splits the season series with College of the Ozarks after winning the earlier season matchup inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Nov. 23 by a score of 67-56.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will have the chance to regroup during their bye week before returning to action on Monday, Feb. 10 as the Evangels will head to McPherson, Kansas for a 6 p.m. tip-off against Central Christian inside Jerry E. Alexander Arena.