PLAINVIEW, Texas – The No. 23 MACU Women's Basketball team put up a very tough fight against No. 18 Wayland Baptist on its Senior Night inside the Hutcherson Center on Thursday night, but the Flying Queens managed to put the game away from the free throw line to hold on for the 77-74 win over the Evangels.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Kylee Scheer – 23 Points, 9-18 FG, 4-7 3FG, 11 Reb, 5 Assists
• Kendrick Bailey – 12 Points, 4-10 FG, 4-8 3FG, 3 Assists, 2 Reb
• Syncere Harrod – 10 Points, 5-7 FG, 2 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian (22-5, 18-5 SAC) struggled through the first four minutes as Wayland Baptist (24-3, 21-3 SAC) jumped out to an early 9-2 lead following Megan Nestor's right-side lay-in with 6:32 remaining.
  • A Talayah Thomas three on the ensuing possession jumpstarted the MACU offense as MACU scored eight unanswered behind a Kylee Scheer long ball before Shy Christopher's floater with 4:49 remaining gave the Evangels the 10-9 edge.
  • After trading blows over the next minute-and-a-half, the Flying Queens strung together a 7-0 run to grab a 20-15 advantage on Kaitlyn Jerden's left-side layup before Kendrick Bailey nailed a huge three from the right side with 55 seconds to go to close the gap to 20-18 at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • The Evangels came out with the momentum to start the second period as a Mary Nyakundi corner three ignited a 10-2 MACU streak capped off on back-to-back Bailey treys to give the Evangels their largest lead of the half at 28-22 with 6:45 left.
  • After trading the next eight points, Wayland Baptist surged its way back behind a string of seven-straight as a pair of Peyton North free throws at the 2:20 mark gave WBU the 33-32 edge.
  • Nyakundi and Bobbie Fouquet traded layups to briefly give each their teams the lead over the final two minutes, but Kylee Scheer sent MACU into the half with the advantage as her left elbow floater with 1:04 to go set the score to 36-35.
• Third Quarter
  • The second stanza opened with a back-and-forth affair as both teams traded the lead seven times through the first four minutes, but the Flying Queens seized a brief control when Jerden's bucket gave WBU the lead before Linda Brice hit a left side three with 5:36 to go to make it a 48-44 Wayland advantage.
  • MACU managed to briefly tie it at 48-all on an Alexis Borgastadt lay-in and a Scheer midrange jumper with 4:03 on the clock, but the Flying Queens recaptured control on back-to-back buckets from Jerden to set the score to 52-48 with 2:13 to go.
  • Wayland Baptist maintained its advantage over the final two minutes, but another Borgstadt right baseline drive and layup with 53 seconds left allowed the Evangels to cut it to a 54-52 game heading into the fourth.
• Fourth Quarter
  • The Flying Queens briefly extended its lead to four on an Emily Sigala jumper to start the final period, but MACU managed to gain the lead back on Bailey's fourth three-pointer of the game followed by Syncere Harrod's layup with 8:22 to go to set the score to 57-56.
  • Mid-America Christian struggled to generate much offense over the next three minutes as the Flying Queens went on an eight-unanswered surge with Linda Brice's bucket with 5:52 left giving WBU its largest lead of the game at 64-57.
  • Scheer willed MACU back with her incredible play over the next three minutes as the senior guard all 12 of the Evangels points during a 12-5 run with a trio of three-pointers and an and-one bucket with her deep three from the left side with 2:05 remaining tying the game up at 69-69.
  • Both teams went blow-for-blow over the next minute-and-a-half as the Flying Queens took the lead on two different occasions following Nestor lay-ins, but after Christopher came up with the first tying score on a floater with 1:19 to go, she had the opportunity to tie once again when she was fouled going up for a shot with 28 seconds left.
  • Christopher made the first, but she unfortunately left the second foul shot just a little short as the Flying Queens came up with the rebound and forced MACU into a must foul situation.
  • After Nestor knocked down both free throws, out-stretched defense by Wayland Baptist forced MACU to score on the inside as Harrod scooped in an open layup with seven seconds left.
  • Once again, the Flying Queens knocked down two free throws after Jerden was fouled with six seconds on the clock, forcing MACU to shoot a three on the final possession, but Scheer's deep three from the right side at the buzzer was just off the mark as Wayland Baptist held on for the 77-74 win.

GAME NOTES

• Despite suffering the loss, Mid-America Christian put together a strong shooting performance as the Evangels shot 30-for-65 (46.2 percent) from the field, including a season-best 11-for-22 (50 percent) from three-point range.
• However, the Evangels defensively struggled to slow down a motivated Wayland Baptist squad on its Senior Night as the Flying Queens finished 30-for-58 (51.7 percent), going 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from three-point range.
• Free throw shooting played a massive impact in the result as the Flying Queens shot 11-for-16 (68.8 percent) from the stripe while the Evangels could only muster 3-of-6 (50 percent).
• While MACU was able to control the glass, outrebounding a very strong Flying Queens squad 37-34 with a 12-8 edge on the offensive glass, WBU was slightly more effective in its second chances by outscoring MACU 12-8 in second chance points.
• Aside from shooting at a high clip, Wayland Baptist was also very good at taking care of the basketball as the Flying Queens tied a season-low six giveaway while forcing MACU into committing 14 turnovers, allowing Wayland to hold a slight 11-7 edge in points off takeaways.
• Senior guard Kylee Scheer continued to put together one of her best games against the Flying Queens as she scored a team-high 23 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Scheer finished the contest shooting 9-for-18, including 4-for-7 from three-point range and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season and dished out a team-high five assists. It also marked her third-straight game with a points and rebounds double-double.
• Kendrick Bailey was a spark plug off the MACU bench, scoring a MACU career-high 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range to go with three assists and a pair of boards.
• Syncere Harrod was the only other Evangel to break into double-figures with 10 points on 5-of-7 from the floor.
• With her made free throw in the final minute, Shy Christopher moved alone at the top of MACU's NAIA Era (2007-present) career free throws list as her 346^th made foul shot supplanted the previous record holder Alexis Shannon (2017-20).
• It was another heartbreaking defeat for MACU to Wayland Baptist as the Evangels suffered an 83-81 defeat to the Flying Queens inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Jan. 11. As a result, WBU sweeps the season series.
• With the results, Mid-America Christian has locked up the No. 3 seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament and will play either Texas Wesleyan or Science & Arts in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Feb. 27. That contest will be inside the Gaulke Activity Center with the tip time still to be determined.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will close out the regular season on Saturday as the Evangels head to Goodwell, Oklahoma for a 2 p.m. tip-off against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside Anchor D Arena.