FORT WORTH, Texas – It was a struggle for Mid-America Christian on the offensive end inside the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday afternoon to start its three-game road stand as the Evangels scored a season-low in a 58-49 defeat at Texas Wesleyan.
 
SCORE

• Texas Wesleyan 58, Mid-America Christian 49
  • Mid-America Christian (13-4, 8-3 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (8-10, 4-8 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Taliah Lee – 18 Points, 7-15 FG, 3-5 3FG, 5 Reb, 3 Steals
• Caitlynn Jordan – 10 Points, 4-16 FG, 2-6 3FG, 9 Reb, 2 Assists
• Sincere Roberts – 8 Points, 3-11 FG, 7 Reb, 2 Assists
• Talayah Thomas – 8 Points, 3-10 FG, 4 Reb, 2 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • It was a back-and-forth battle through the first four minutes as Texas Wesleyan took its last lead of the quarter at 5-4 on Alaina Hill's free throw with 6:40 remaining.
  • On the ensuing possession, Taliah Lee scooped in a layup to give Mid-America Christian the lead for good in the period before Caitlynn Jordan hit a hook shot in the paint midway through to give MACU its first three-point lead at 8-5.
  • The Lady Rams scored their final bucket of the period on a Kamryn Phillips layup with 4:35 to go before the Evangels dominated the rest of the way, outscoring TXWES 6-0 on a pair of threes by Lee and Jordan sent MACU into the second quarter with a 14-7 advantage.
• Second Quarter
  • The Evangels started out the second half on a strong note as Sincere Roberts buried a corner three before getting down the lane to scoop in a layup with 9:21 to go gave MACU its first double-digit advantage of the game at 19-7.
  • After being scoreless over an 8:13 stretch between the first and second quarters, TXWES' Aniyah Sanford got to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws with 6:22 to go.
  • The Evangels struggled against Texas Wesleyan's press over the next three minutes as MACU committed four turnovers during the stretch, allowing the Lady Rams to go on a 13-0 run as Sanford's foul shot with 3:45 left gave TXWES its first and only lead of the quarter at 20-19.
  • MACU's defense settled back in and took the advantage back on Jordan's reverse layup at the 3:08 mark before Talayah Thomas scored her first bucket on the fastbreak off the steal to make it 23-20.
  • Texas Wesleyan did manage to get a score back just before the break when the Lady Rams pulled down a defense board and sent an outlet all the way out to the other end the floor to a wide-open Kameryn Phillips, getting the fastbreak layup to fall with a few seconds left and trimming the MACU edge to 23-22 at half.
• Third Quarter
  • The Lady Rams opened the second half on-fire, scoring the first eight points as Peyton Foster knocked down a left-wing three with 7:44 left to make it a 30-23 TXWES advantage.
  • Thomas finally snapped MACU's cold spell by burying a three from the left side on the ensuing possession, but the Lady Rams grabbed their largest advantage when Kyla Speights knocked down a trey on TXWES's next possession before Phillips converted a foul shot with 4:54 left to make it 34-26.
  • Mid-America Christian chiseled the deficit down to only two after scoring six-unanswered as Jordan drained another left-side three at the 3:35 mark, bringing it to 34-32.
  • However, the Evangels went cold down the stretch as the Lady Rams scored the final six points of the period to hold a 40-32 edge at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  •  MACU tried to battle back through the first minute-and-a-half, scoring the first five points on a Lee lay-in before Monique Carter drained a three from the left corner to cut it to a one-possession game at 40-37.
  • The Evangels hit another cold spell for two minutes as Texas Wesleyan briefly stretched its lead to six before MACU swung back with five in a row off the back of Lee as her layup and left-wing three with 5:39 left trimmed the deficit to 43-42.
  • Neither team scored a field goal over the next four minutes as the Lady Rams added to their lead from the free throw line as Nala Richardson's foul shot with 2:03 remaining made it a 48-43 TXWES advantage.
  • Lee snapped the field goal spell with a left-wing trey at the at the 1:42 mark to close it to 48-46, but that was the closest the Evangels would come as the Lady Rams closed out the contest with a 10-3 run to secure the 58-49 win.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian had its worst offensive output of the season as the Evangels shot just 19-for-61 (31.1 percent) from the field while knocking down a slight better clip from the arc at 9-of-24 (37.5 percent). MACU was also unable to get to line much in the contest, converting on a season-low 2-for-4 (50 percent) from the stripe.
• Despite the result, MACU's defense was extremely tough, limiting Texas Wesleyan to only 16-of-57 (28.1 percent) from the floor, including 6-for-24 (24 percent) from downtown. However, the biggest difference in the game was TXWES's ability to get to the line, shooting 20-of-27 (74.1 percent) from the stripe.
• It was a sloppy game for the MACU offense, committing 19 turnovers to only 14 for the Lady Rams, resulting in a 17-8 TXWES advantage in points off takeaways.
• Texas Wesleyan also controlled the glass, outrebounding the Evangels 36-32 with a 12-10 edge on the offensive glass.
• Taliah Lee continued to make another big offensive impact for the Evangels, scoring a game-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, going 3-for-5 from behind the arc while pulling down five boards and tallying three steals.
• It was a tough offensive game for MACU's leading scorer Caitlynn Jordan, who was the only other Evangel to crack into double-figures with 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting, going 2-for-6 from downtown and just barely missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
• Sincere Roberts finished the contest with eight points and seven rebounds while Talayah Thomas also added eight with four boards.
• The defeat snaps MACU's five-game win streak over Texas Wesleyan while the result marks only the seventh win by the Lady Rams over the Evangels since the 2009-10 season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will have another huge road game coming up on Monday as the Evangels will travel down to Chickasha to take on Sooner Athletic Conference leader Science & Arts. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. inside the USAO Fieldhouse.