OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Women's Basketball team was held to without a field goal in the first quarter, but the Evangels were undeterred in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal Presented by Athletic Solutions inside Abe Lemons Arena on Thursday night as the Evangels outscored Wayland Baptist 52-29 over the final three quarters to seal the 59-49 victory.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 59, Wayland Baptist 49
  • Mid-America Christian (23-6)
  • Wayland Baptist (12-16)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Talayah Thomas – 14 Points, 5-9 FG, 3-3 FT, 2 Reb
• Taliah Lee – 13 Points, 6-10 FG, 4 Reb
• Aniya Smith – 10 Points, 3-6 FG, 4-5 FT, 3 Reb
• Sincere Roberts – 8 Points, 3-12 FG, 2-3 FT, 6 Reb, 3 Steals, 2 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Wayland Baptist opened the contest by scoring 13 of the first 15 points as Cania Mitchell's and-one bucket gave the Flying Queens the 13-2 advantage with 5:57 to go.
  • Following a pair of Monique Carter foul shots on the ensuing possession snapped the run, but WBU kept the Evangels to without a field goal for the remainder of the quarter as Iliana Hernandez's three-ball from the left side with 32 seconds left gave WBU the 20-7 advantage at the end of one quarter of play.
• Second Quarter
  • The Evangels finally got on the board with 9:30 to go in the second quarter as Aniya Smith drove strong to the basket and got the hoop and harm before Sincere Roberts got an and-one bucket of her own off the steal and fastbreak lay-in to close it to 20-13 with 8:23 left.
  • Sophia Hurtado's free throw line jumper and Zalika Stephens layup two possessions later briefly pushed WBU's advantage back up to double-figures at 24-13 at the 7:09 mark before Talayah Thomas powered in a tough layup on the right side with 6:38 to go to cut it back to single-figures.
  • Both teams struggled to score over the next few minutes before Jadyn Trustler canned a left-side three to extend the WBU lead back to double-digits at 27-15 with 4:28 remaining.
  • Mid-America Christian started rallying back after Mia Smith scooped in a layup at the four-minute mark to jumpstart a 10-unanswered Evangels surge as Carter drained a pair of foul shots with 1:42 left to cut it to a two-point game at 27-25.
  • Heaven Hayden blew through the lane with 53 seconds to go to snap WBU's three-and-a-half-minute scoreless streak, but Carter knocked down one-of-two foul shots with 35 seconds left to cut the deficit to 29-26 heading into the halftime break.
• Third Quarter
  • Both teams struggled offensively through the first few minutes before Taliah Lee drained a three from the left side with 7:40 to go to cut it to 31-29 game.
  • The Flying Queens scored the next four on a Cania Mitchell layup and two Stephens free throws, but then the Evangels started finding their stride on the offensive end as MACU scored seven of the next 11 with Thomas finishing off an and-one layup from the right side to trim the deficit back to 39-36 with 4:30 left.
  • Aniya Smith came up big for MACU over the next two minutes as her back door cut and layup with 2:29 to go gave the Evangels their first lead of the contest at 40-39.
  • Mia Smith did some work from the free throw line over the final minute-and-a-half, going 3-for-4 to extend the lead to four before Wayland Baptist snapped a 4:23 scoreless spell with Brooklyn Birkenfeld knocking down 1-of-2 with 23 seconds left to make it 43-40 at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • A strong up-and-under move by Roberts opened the scoring at the 8:40 mark to briefly extend the MACU lead to five before the Flying Queens scored the next five to tie the game at 45-all with 6:40 to go on Birkenfeld's free throws.
  • Roberts snapped MACU's cold spell with a layup at the 5:48 mark before the Flying Queens tied it heading into the media timeout on Mitchell's strong take down the middle for the left-handed lay-in with 5:17 to go.
  • With just over four minutes remaining, Lee's strong take down the left lane put MACU back up and jumpstart an 11-0 Evangels surge featuring five points from Thomas before Lee capped it with lay-in with 57 seconds left to make it 58-47.
  • Mitchell scored the final bucket with 37 seconds to go to snap WBU's near five-minute scoreless spell before Roberts canned 1-of-2 free throws to seal the 59-49 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Despite shooting 0-for-11 in the first quarter, Mid-America Christian shot 19-of-50 the rest of the way to finish 19-for-61 (31.1 percent) from the field, including 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from three-point range, making it the fewest threes the Evangels made in a game this year and the second-worst clip from behind the arc on the season.
• After shooting 11-for-25 (44.0 percent) and 4-of-11 (36.3 percent) from three in the first half, the Evangels held Wayland Baptist to only 6-for-29 (20.7 percent) from the field 1-of-12 (8.3 percent) from three in the second half to finish 17-for-54 (31.5 percent) and 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from behind the arc.
• The free throw line played the largest factor in the contest as Evangels finished 19-for-23 (82.6 percent) from the stripe while the Flying Queens only converted 10-of-15 (66.7 percent).
• Wayland Baptist controlled the glass for the game, out-rebounding MACU 45-39 with a 13-12 edge on the offensive boards, however, MACU still managed to seize the slight 12-11 edge in second chance scoring.
• The biggest difference in the contest was the Evangels dominating the turnover battle as MACU forced 18 WBU giveaways while the Evangels tied a season-low six turnovers, resulting in a dominant 18-4 difference in points off takeaways.
• Talayah Thomas led a balanced MACU scoring effort with 14 points, shooting 5-for-9 from the field and 1-of-3 from three while knocking down all three free throws.
• Taliah Lee added 13 points for MACU on 6-of-10 from the floor to go with four boards.
• Aniya Smith came up big off the bench for the Evangels as the only other to crack double-digits, scoring 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting, going 4-of-5 from the stripe while adding three rebounds.
• Sincere Roberts added eight points off the MACU bench on 3-of-12 from the field while making a huge defensive impact with six rebounds and a team-high three steals.
• Despite having a tough afternoon on the offensive end, Caitlyn Jordan came up huge for the Evangels on the glass, tying a career-high 14 rebounds, 12 of which on the defensive side.
• With the victory, MACU moved to 3-0 against Wayland Baptist this season after defeating the Flying Queens 77-65 inside the Gaulke back on Jan. 8 before coming away with a hard-fought 77-75 win in Plainview, Texas last Saturday.
• With the result, MACU will be competing in the SAC Semifinal for the third-straight year and will be seeking for a return trip to the league Championship game after making it to the title tilt last year.

UP NEXT

• No. 2 seed Mid-America Christian will play No. 3 seed Nelson in the SAC Semifinal on Friday night as the contest is slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off inside Abe Lemons Arena.