OKLAHOMA CITY – MACU Women's Basketball goes wire-to-wire on Thursday night to defeat crosstown rivals Oklahoma City 70-57 for the Evangels 10^th Sooner Athletic Conference win sparked by a career high 20 points and six assists from Mia Smith.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 70, Oklahoma City 57
  • (RV) Mid-America Christian: (15-4, 10-3 SAC)
  • Oklahoma City: (7-12, 3-10 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Mia Smith: 20 Points, 5-12 FG, 4-7 3FG, 6-6 FT, 6 Ast, 4 Reb, 3 Stl
• Caitlynn Jordan: 14 Points, 6-15 FG, 2-4 3FG, 7 Reb, 3 Blk, 1 Stl
• Talayah Thomas: 10 Points, 2-5 3FG, 5 Reb, 3 Ast
• Taliah Lee: 9 Points, 4-10 FG, 11 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk
• Sincere Roberts: 9 Points, 4-8 FG, 6 Reb, 1 Stl, 1 Ast, 1 Blk

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • The Evangels opened the first quarter with four buckets in the paint, asserting their inside presence early as they led 8-3 at the first media timeout, led by Sincere Roberts with four points.
  • Mia Smith opened her account from deep as MACU led 11-5, but OCU stormed back into the game to square it up 11-11. Talayah Thomas added three more at the end of the first quarter, as the Evangels took a slim 18-15 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
• Second Quarter
  • Mia Smith connected for three to start the Evangels' offense in quarter two, her second of the night. Both teams traded triples into the halfway point, as MACU held its lead at 28-23 into the media timeout.
  • Talayah Thomas knocked down her second triple with four minutes left, followed by another three from Mia Smith to take an 11-point lead. Monique Carter found the bottom from a 10-footer and Smith added two more from the free throw line for a 13-point first half, and a 40-26 MACU advantage at halftime.
• Third Quarter
  • Sincere Roberts splashed in a triple on the opening possession of the second half, but the Stars battled back with eight consecutive including a pair of threes from Brooke Curry during the run. Caitlynn Jordan ended the run with paint points that led to the media timeout and a 45-35 MACU lead.
  • Curry connected again from deep for her fifth triple of the night but it was quickly answered by Jordan to get her into double digit scoring. OCU went on a quick scoring run to cut the Evangel lead down to six, the closest the Stars have been.
  • Taliah Lee ended the run with a three from the corner to push the Evangels up nine at 53-44, to end the third quarter.  
• Fourth Quarter
  • Thomas scored all four points in the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter before Mia Smith cashed in her fourth triple to lead 60-46 with six minutes remaining.
  • Taliah Lee continued her defensive presence turning steals into points with two consecutive buckets to give MACU its largest lead of the night at 64-48.
  • Mia Smith remained perfect from the line with a pair and tallied a career-high 20 points to close out the Stars by a 70-57 score.

GAME NOTES

• MACU shot 40% (26-65) from the field, an efficient 10-23 (43.5%) from three-point, and a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. The Stars were efficient as well at 23-57 (40.4%) from the field, 9-21 (42.9%) from behind the arc, but struggled from the line at 2-5 (40%).
• Mid-America Christian had three players finish with double-digit scoring led by a career-high 20 points from Mia Smith who cashed in four threes and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Caitlynn Jordan chipped in 14 points, while Talayah Thomas scored 10.
• Taliah Lee snagged a team-high 11 rebounds falling just one point short of another double-double. Jordan grabbed seven boards and Sincere Roberts added six.
• MACU finished with 15 team assists. Mia Smith led the way with six, while Monique Carter and Talayah Thomas had three each.  
• The Evangels continue to dominate defensively, forcing 15 turnovers off six steals and five blocks. Mia Smith finished with three steals and Jordan rejected three shots.
• Mid-America Christian improves to 10-3 in Sooner Athletic Conference play, as the Evangels sit joint second with Nelson and Science & Arts, remaining just one game back of the SAC leaders Langston.   
• MACU improved its all-time record against OCU to 8-33, winning five consecutive now over the Stars including both regular season matchups this year.   

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian returns home next weekend for a double home stand starting first with John Brown on Thursday night tipping off at 6 p.m. The Evangels turn around and face the Bobcats of College of the Ozarks on Saturday afternoon seeking revenge after falling to COFO in Point Lookout, Mo in the first meeting this season.