WBB Nelson Postgame - 2-27-26
Richard Clifton
64
Nelson NU 22-6
67
Winner Mid-America Christian MACU 24-6
Nelson NU
22-6
64
Final
67
Mid-America Christian MACU
24-6
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Nelson NU 15 15 21 13 64
Mid-America Christian MACU 21 17 17 12 67

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

Women’s Basketball Rallies Past Nelson 67-64 to Return to SAC Championship Game

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner Athletic Conference Semifinal Presented by Athletic Solutions was a back-and-forth battle in the fourth quarter inside Abe Lemons Arena on Friday night, but senior guard Talayah Thomas came up huge by getting the steal and go-ahead layup with 23 seconds left to seal the 67-64 victory and punch the Evangels ticket back to the championship game.
 
SCORE
  • Mid-America Christian 67, Nelson 64
    • Mid-America Christian (24-6)
    • Nelson (22-6)
TOP PERFORMERS GAME SUMMARY
  • First Quarter
    • Nelson came out shooting well in the early going as Paris Miller's floating jumper and Lauryn Scalise's three-pointer from the right side gave the Lions the early 5-0 advantage only 64 seconds in.
    • Talayah Thomas helped spark the comeback on the ensuing possession, getting to the line and knocking down a pair of free throws at the 8:37 mark to spark a nine-unanswered Evangels surge, as Thomas capped it off with an offensive rebound and putback and-one to make it a 9-5 MACU edge with 7:18 to go.
    • The Lions scored the next four to tie it back up on Kate Miller's backdoor lay-in off the Scalise feed with six-and-a-half left, but MACU answered back with four of its own off Thomas' right-side trey before Caitlynn Jordan canned a free throw at the 5:41 mark to make it 13-9.
    • Outside of a Bailee Dorris right-wing three with 5:10 remaining, both teams struggled to find scoring over the next three minutes as Sincere Roberts putback with just over two minutes remaining and Jordan's free throw at the 1:38 mark stretched it to a four-point game before Scalise drained her second three from the left wing to close it back to 16-15.
    • Mid-America Christian finished the quarter strong, scoring the final five as Jordan knocked down two throws with just over a minute left before burying an open three from the top of the key with 32 seconds left on Thomas' drive and kick to make it 21-15 at the end of one.
  • Second Quarter
    • Sincere Roberts led the charge for the Evangels to start the second quarter, scoring all eight of MACU's points through the first five-and-a-half minutes while the defense clamped down, holding the Lions to only five points as Roberts offensive board and putback with 4:37 left, extending the edge to 29-20.
    • While Kaitlynn McKenna got open in the left corner with 3:51 remaining to snap Nelson's cold spell, Aniya Smith answered with a right-side trey of her own on the following possession before Roberts coast-to-coast steal and score extended the MACU edge to double-digits at 34-23 with just under three minutes remaining.
    • Nelson closed it back to six on Abby Boyce's second chance bucket and another Scalise three-ball to make it 34-28 with just under a minute-and-a-half left, but the Evangels quickly extended it back to 10 at 38-28 on Aniya Smith's score on the back-door layup off the Mia Smith feed before Roberts scooped in another layup with 31 seconds to go.
    • Nelson got a score back on Boyce's powered-in layup with five seconds left and a costly MACU mistake on the inbound gave the Lions a second chance, but the Lions came up empty go into the half set at 38-30.
  • Third Quarter
    • Both teams struggled to get the scoring going through the first two minutes with each side trading a bucket before Thomas' drive and score with 7:33 left ignited a string of seven-unanswered, featuring a Taliah Lee three from the top of the key and another Thomas bucket, bringing it to 47-32 with 6:37 to go.
    • Nelson battled back with a string of seven-unanswered of its own with Scalise knocking down her fifth trey from the right side to close the gap to 47-39 with 5:15 remaining.
    • Lee off the Mia Smith drive and dish on the following possession helped stem the tide for MACU, scoring four of the next six with Roberts scooping in another lay-in to push the edge back out to 10 at 51-41 with 4:23 on the clock.
    • Nelson frustrated MACU's offensive attack over the next four minutes as the Lions went on a 10-4 run over the final 3:41 as Scalise's sixth three cut the MACU lead down to 55-51.
  • Fourth Quarter
    • Scoring came at a premium for both teams through the first five-and-a-half minutes of the fourth as Dorris and Monique Carter traded a pair of shots at the 9:14 and 8:28 marks before Dorris added another score with Jordan burying two foul shots to make it 59-55 with 5:05 on the clock.
    • MACU's offense went cold over he next three minutes as Nelson tied it up at 59-59 on Alyssa O'Malley's layup with 2:50 left.
    • Thomas finally snapped the cold spell with a midrange runner from the left side at the 1:56 mark before the Lions tied it back with Paris Miller getting to the line with 1:42 left.
    • The Evangels appeared to be in-trouble when Presley Wheeler made a deep right-side three with 34 seconds left to give Nelson the 64-61 advantage before MACU came back with a quick answer on its end as Jordan got a wide-open fastbreak layup to cut it to a one-point game with 27 seconds to go.
    • After a couple of timeouts called by each side, Thomas came up with the play of the game when she nabbed the inbound pass and dribbled around a defender for the open right-handed layup with 23 seconds left, giving MACU the 64-63 advantage.
    • Nelson had the opportunity to score the go-ahead bucket, but MACU's defense came up stout as Lee pulled down the defensive board before Thomas was fouled with 12 seconds left, stepping to the line to knock down two clutch foul shots to make it 67-64.
    • The Lions had one last chance to tie, but Paris Miller's three bricked off the back iron before Carter tapped it ahead to Thomas on the long rebound, running out the rest of the clock to seal the victory.
GAME NOTES
  • Mid-America Christian overcame another tough shooting night from the field as the Evangels finished 26-for-70 (37.1 percent) from the field and 4-of-28 (14.3 percent) from three-point range. With limited chances, the Evangels took advantage of their free throw tries, going 11-for-14 (78.6 percent).
  • The Evangels defense still managed to hold the Lions to a marginally colder shooting percentage, finishing 24-of-65 (36.9 percent), but hit on 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) from downtown. MACU did a strong job of keeping the Lions off the line, making only 7-of-10 (70 percent).
  • Both defenses played tough as the Lions forced 17 MACU giveaways while the Evangels took it away 22 times from the Lions with both teams being even at 15-all in points off turnovers.
  • Nelson held a slight edge on the glass, out-rebounding MACU 45-44, but the Evangels seized a 17-15 edge on the offensive end, resulting in a 15-9 advantage in second chance scores.
  • Talayah Thomas once again led the charge for MACU, scoring 20 points and despite shooting 1-for-9 from three, she converted on 6-of-9 from inside the arc and 5-for-5 from the line. Thomas also came up big in the floor game, yanking down eight rebounds to go with four steals and three assists.
  • Sincere Roberts provided a massive spark off MACU's bench, scoring 16 points on an efficient 8-of-14 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and three steals.
  • Caitlynn Jordan rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 11 points, overcoming a 2-for-9 shooting night with a solid 6-of-8 from the stripe while pulling down eight rebounds and tallying two steals.
  • With the win, MACU took two out of three against Nelson this season after coming away with a 60-58 win over the Lions inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 15 before falling to the Lions on their Senior Day on Feb. 12 by a score of 74-67.
  • The Evangels are advancing to the SAC Championship game for the second-straight year and for the second time in program history. In last year's SAC tourney run, MACU opened it with an 87-57 win over Science & Arts in the quarterfinal and a 97-67 victory over Wayland Baptist in the semifinal before falling to host Langston 64-54 in the title tilt.
UP NEXT
  • Mid-America Christian will seek its first SAC Tournament title on Saturday night inside Abe Lemons Arena as the Evangels will take on College of the Ozarks for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
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