OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Women's Basketball team captured its first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Title Presented by Athletic Solutions in thrilling fashion inside Abe Lemons Arena on Saturday night as Caitlynn Jordan scored the go-ahead layup with nine seconds left before the defense came up with a massive stop to seal the 71-70 victory over College of the Ozarks.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 71, College of the Ozarks 70
  • Mid-America Christian (25-6)
  • College of the Ozarks (21-10)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Taliah Lee – 31 Points, 12-19 FG, 5-11 3FG, 9 Reb
• Sincere Roberts – 12 Points, 4-9 FG, 4-4 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Steals
• Monique Carter – 10 Points, 4-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, 3 Assists
• Caitlynn Jordan – 6 Points, 3-9 FG, 8 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Mia Smith – 4 Points, 7 Assists, 4 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Both teams struggled to find their shots through the first three minutes as Abigail McBride's layup at the 9:05 mark and Taliah Lee's lay-in off the Mia Smith assist with 8:22 on the clock made it a tie game at 2-2.
  • After Caitlynn Jordan scored another game-tying layup with 5:35 on the clock, Ashlen Garrett buried threes on back-to-back possessions to ignite a 7-0 run before Lee splashed a three from the right side with 3:57 to go to close the gap to 11-7.
  • The Evangels struggled to find a score over the next three minutes as the Bobcats stretched their lead to eight before Aniya Smith's drive and dish to Caitlynn Jordan for the left-side lay-in to cut MACU's deficit down to 15-9 at the 37 second mark.
• Second Quarter
  • While an Aniya Smith layup on MACU's first possession allowed the Evangels to close it to a four-point game at the 9:43 mark, Ozarks held MACU to only two points over the next four minutes as the Bobcats went on a 9-2 run to seize a 24-13 advantage on Savannah Ketchum's put-in off the Abigail McBride assist with 5:28 remaining.
  • Mid-America Christian started to stem the tide when Mia Smith's right side drive to Roberts for the floater in the lane on the ensuing possession jumpstarted a 9-2 MACU surge as Monique Carter dribbled around the screen and knocked down a three from the top of the key to close it to 26-22 with 2:29 left.
  • The Bobcats swung back by scoring eight of the next 10 as Avery Arnold knocked down a trey from the right side to extend the COFO edge back to double-figures at 34-24.
  • The Evangels managed to knock it back down to single-figures when Jordan picked McBride's pocket going up for the layup and throwing the full-court heave to Roberts for the fastbreak layup with 11 seconds left to make 34-26 going into the break.
• Third Quarter
  • A strong Thomas take from the right side to the left paint briefly trimmed the Bobcats edge down to 34-28 just 43 seconds in, but Ozarks swung back with a 7-2 surge to push the lead back out to 41-30 with 6:32 left.
  • On MACU's next possession, Mia Smith found Lee wide open for a three on the right side, jumpstarting a 7-1 Evangels surge as Lee's quick take down the left side for the scoop-in layup at the five-minute mark allowed the Evangels to close to 42-37 heading into the media timeout.
  • Both teams went blow-for-blow over the next two-and-a-half minutes, but Lee's third trey with just under two minutes to go fired up a 7-1 Evangels surge as Lee took it down the lane for another layup with 1:05 on the clock to cut it to a 50-48 contest.
  • All of the scoring in the final minute came from the free throw line as Ozarks closed out by scoring four of the last five to set the score to 54-49 at the end of three.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Lee will MACU in the early portions of the quarter as her foul shots followed by the open lay-in off the Mia Smith dime allowed the Evangels to close it to 54-53 with 8:18 left.
  • Even though the Bobcats scored six of the next eight to push their advantage back out to five, Lee canned another three-ball from the top of the key to cut the deficit down to 64-58 at the six-minute mark.
  • COFO rattled off the next four before Carter splashed a three from the right elbow from behind the screen with 4:36 to go as Thomas followed suit with a high running floater off the glass at the 3:25 mark to make it a one-point game once again at 64-63.
  • Arnold's left-side runner on the next possession briefly pushed the Bobcats lead back out to three before the Evangels answered back in a big way as Mia Smith buried a right-side three before Lee gave MACU its first lead of the game at 69-66 with a top-side trey with 1:58 left.
  • The ball bounced the right way on a couple of loose balls over the next two possessions as McBridge got a put-back before Jones banked one in off the glass from the left side to give COFO the 70-69 edge with 19 seconds left.
  • MACU answered right back out of a timeout as Mia Smith found Caitlyn Jordan on the inbound for the right-side scoop-in to put the Evangels back into the lead at 71-70.
  • College of the Ozarks had one last chance at a game-winner on an inbound pass with 1.6 seconds left as Keara Mattingley got an open look underneath the basket, but her scoop shot lay-in bricked off the back iron before Mia Smith corralled the board to seal the victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together its best shooting performance of the tournament, going 27-for-64 (42.2 percent) from the field and 8-of-26 (30.8 percent) from three while effectively converting 9-for-10 (90 percent) from the charity stripe.
• College of the Ozarks was also effective from the floor, shooting 23-of-57 (40.4 percent) and 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) from three while keeping in the game from the free throw line by converting 18-of-23 (78.3 percent).
• Both teams were even on the glass, as each team finished with 36 rebounds while MACU grabbed a slim 14-13 edge on the offensive boards for a 14-12 advantage in second chance points.
• The Evangels won the turnover battle, forcing 17 COFO giveaways while committing only 13 to secure a commanding 22-15 lead in points off takeaways.
• Taliah Lee put together the best game of her collegiate career, finishing with 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field, including 5-for-11 from three-point range while narrowly missing a double-double with nine boards.
• Once again, Sincere Roberts provided a massive spark off the MACU bench, pouring in 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting, going 4-for-4 from the foul line to go with five boards, three steals, and two assists.
• Monique Carter was the only other Evangel to finish in double-figures with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three-point range while dishing out three dimes.
• Despite being held to only six points, Caitlynn Jordan came up clutch when the Evangels needed her most as she also added eight huge rebounds and a pair of steals and assists to her stat line.
• Mia Smith led MACU's distribution efforts with seven assists and also tallied four thefts in the contest.
• With the victory, the Evangels took two out of the three meetings against the Bobcats this season, bouncing back from an 83-75 defeat in Point Lookout, Mo. back on Dec. 13 with an 82-76 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 31.

UP NEXT

• With the victory, Mid-America Christian will receive an automatic berth to the NAIA Tournament Opening Round taking place from Mar. 13-14 at host sites. The Selection Show will take place on Mar. 7 at 7 p.m. on the NAIA's YouTube page.