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In a match of two of the top four teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference, the MACU women's basketball team put together an outstanding second half effort to pull away with an 84-67 victory inside the C.F. Gayles Fieldhouse on Thursday night. With the victory, MACU Head Coach Hannah Moeller earned her 250th career win in her 11th year of coaching at the collegiate level.

 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Shy Christopher – 24 Points, 8-20 FG, 8-20 FG, 7-7 FT, 4 Reb
• Jaci Littell – 17 Points, 5-15 FG, 6-7 FT, 4 Reb
• Sydney Wycoff – 12 Points, 4-9 FG, 2-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Steals, 3 Assists
• Whitney Outon – 12 Points, 10-10 FT, 7 Reb, 4 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Shy Christopher opened the contest with a left-handed layup on the first possession before driving down the right lane and kicking it to the top of the key for a wide-open Sydney Wycoff three to give Mid-America Christian (15-4, 9-4 SAC) the early 5-0 advantage just under a minute into the contest.
  • Langston (12-6, 7-5 SAC) scored four of the next six to close it to a 7-4 game, but Jaci Littell recovered her own blocked midrange jumper to scoop in a layup to start a five-unanswered run capped off on a Tyaija Coleman layup with 5:28 to go, extending the advantage to 12-4.
  • Anyiah Pride finally ended the Lady Lions drought with a contested left-handed layup with just over four minutes left, but Christopher drained her first three of the night from the left corner to give MACU its largest lead of the half at 15-6.
  • The Evangels maintained a nine-point cushion until Jamya Rogers finished off a three-point play with 1:31 left before Ayasha Thomas' fastbreak layup off a Veyoni Davis steal closed the LU gap to 17-15 with 40 seconds remaining.
  • On MACU's final possession, Ashley Hopper shook off her defender and hit a spinning bank shot with six seconds on the clock to send the Evangels into the second with a 19-15 edge.
• Second Quarter
  • Langston opened the second period with some momentum as a Kameron Shelley three and a Hailey Jordan spinning layup in the paint gave the Lady Lions their only lead of the contest at 20-19 with 8:50 left.
  • On the ensuing possession, Kyleigh Leverich rattled in a three from the right wing off an in-bound pass before Wycoff split the defense and finished at the rim to push the Evangels' edge back out to 24-20 at the 7:10 mark.
  • The Evangels maintained its advantage over the next few minutes, but LU's Aminata Seck powered in a running jumper and drew the foul driving down the left lane to tie it up with the three-point play at 28-28 with 3:50 remaining.
  • MACU recaptured the lead on the following possession when Jaci Littell canned a three from the right wing as the Evangels strung together a seven-unanswered. Mid-America Christian was able to take advantage of LU's foul trouble as Whitney Outon knocked down four straight free throws on consecutive possessions to push it out to a 35-28 game with 2:27 to go.
  • Langston once again put together a big run to get back into it, rattling off seven-straight as Shelley's put-back bucket with just over a minute on the clock drew it even at 35-35.
  • The Evangels carried some momentum into the halftime break. After Tyaija Coleman split a pair of free throws on the following possession and MACU came up with a pair of defense stops, Leverich brought it up with eight seconds left and drained a cold-blooded three-pointer from the top of the key before time expired to send the Evangels into the locker room with a 39-35 edge.
• Third Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian immediately flexed its muscle to start the second half as the Evangels tallied seven-unanswered behind a tough Christopher finish and a Littell three-point play before Outon finished off a well-executed in-bound play, giving MACU its first double-digit with 8:13 to go at 46-35.
  • The Lady Lions battled back by scoring five unanswered over the next minute off a Davis three and a pair of Koreea Kirksey free throws to bring it back to a six-point game.
  • MACU managed to hold Langston off midway through the quarter as a pair of Coleman free throws pushed the Evangels' edge back out to seven before five unanswered on a Davis three and a strong Thomas take down the right lane trimmed it to 52-49 with just under four minutes left.
  • Wycoff stemmed the tide back in-favor of MACU with a wide-open layup down the middle of the paint after Coleman passed out of a Lady Lions trap. The Evangels scored five straight as Outon's pair from the charity stripe with 1:44 remaining set the score to 57-49.
  • A Kirksey three on the next possession briefly closed it to five, but foul trouble caught up to Langston in the final minute as Christopher and Outon combined to go 6-for-6 from the line to head into the fourth with a 63-52 advantage.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Both teams struggled to score to start the final period as Kirksey's free throw with the only point scored by either team through the first minute-and-a-half, but Littell got back to the line to knock down a pair of throws before Christopher hit an incredible fall-away running jumper off a euro-step with just under eight to go to push the MACU lead out to 67-53.
  • Langston was unable to knock the MACU advantage down below double-figures as the closest the Lady Lions would come the rest of the way was on a Davis offensive board and put-back with 6:33 to go to close it to 69-59.
  • The Evangels finished off the contest strong in the final three minutes, scoring eight of the final 10 points off a pair of threes from Leverich and Wycoff to go with a Christopher bucket to secure the 84-67 final.

GAME NOTES

• Both teams were relatively even in the shooting department as Mid-America Christian knocked down 24-for-62 (38.7 percent) from the field and 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from the three-point arc while Langston finished 26-of-70 (37.1 percent), including 6-for-24 (25 percent) from range.
• The Evangels free throw shooting played the biggest role in the result as MACU knocked down a blazing 29-of-32 (90.6 percent) from the line while the Lady Lions shot only 9-for-12 (75 percent) for the contest.
• Even though Langston won the rebounding battle 42-39, MACU's press defense pestered the Lady Lions into 21 turnovers while the Evangels committed just 15.
• For the sixth time in the last 10 games, Shy Christopher broke the 20-point plateau by scoring a game-high 24 points on 8-of-20 shooting to go with 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.
• Despite a cold shooting night, Jaci Littell was still able to make an impact on the offensive end, finishing with 17 points on 5-of-15 from the field, but went 6-for-7 from the line.
• Whitney Outon and Sydney Wycoff rounded out the double-digit scoring for MACU with 12 points apiece. 10 of Outon's 12 came from the free throw line after going perfect from the line for a career-high makes and attempts while also pulling down a team-high seven rebounds and dishing out a team-leading four assists. Wycoff netted her 12 on 4-of-9 shooting, including going 2-for-5 from downtown and for the second straight game, notched four steals on the defensive end to go with three dimes.
• Kyleigh Leverich just missed breaking into double-digits with nine points after going 3-for-4 from the three-point arc.
• Langston only had two players finish in double-figures, led by Anyia Pride with 15 points.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian has improved to 9-2 all-time against Langston and after suffering a defeat to the Lady Lions in the 2021 SAC Tournament, the Evangels have won four straight games by at least 17 points.
• The victory also gave MACU some breathing room in the SAC standings as the Evangels remained a game ahead of UNT-Dallas for third in the league while Langston dropped to fifth, falling a game-and-a-half back of MACU.

Original source can be found here