OKC Standard

The No. 24 MACU women's basketball team came into the day as one of just 12 teams in the NAIA to be on a 10-plus game win streak, but the Evangels outside shooting struggles caused MACU to drop its regular season finale on Senior Day 81-74 to Oklahoma City inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.

 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jaci Littell – 22 Points, 6-19 FG, 9-10 FT, 8 Reb
• Shy Christopher – 21 Points, 7-11 FG, 7-12 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Assists
• Sydney Wycoff – 7 Points, 2-3 FG, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • Oklahoma City (13-14, 10-12 SAC) came out firing through the first four minutes as the Stars went 4-for-7 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three as back-to-back Annila Dawn threes gave OCU the 11-4 advantage with 6:24 to go.
  • A strong Shy Christopher finish in the paint and back-to-back Aneli Thomsen fastbreak jumpers closed the gap to one, but Mid-America Christian (23-5, 17-5 SAC) was unable to bring it back to even until Tyaija Coleman converted a short runner in the paint at 18-18 with 2:42 to go.
  • Stars built back a four-point lead, but Christopher was able to get to the free throw line twice in the final minute and converted 3-of-4 to close it to a 23-22 game heading into the second.
• Second Quarter
  • The lead exchanged hands three times at the start with Christopher opening the quarter with a fastbreak lay-in before OCU's Elaine Witt and Sydney Wycoff traded threes to make it a 27-26 MACU edge with 8:01 left. However, eight unanswered Stars points allowed OCU to take back and stretch its advantage to 34-27 with 5:52 remaining.
  • MACU chiseled away at the Stars edge by scoring eight of the next 10, taking advantage of a pair of Jaci Littell and-ones to close it to 38-35 with 4:27 to go, but OCU swung back with five straight from the charity stripe to take its largest lead of the 43-35 at the 3:38 mark.
  • The Evangels defense clamped down over the next three minutes, allowing OCU to score just two points in the stretch as an Ashley Hopper foul shot with 38 seconds left closed it to three-point game, but Dawn's layup with 16 seconds to go sent the Stars into the locker room with the 47-42 lead.
• Third Quarter
  • Over the first five minutes, MACU slowly crawled its way back in the contest, outscoring the Stars 10-4 as Christopher backed her defender down in the paint and fired up a tightly contested midrange jumper to give the Evangels the 52-51 edge with 5:18 left.
  • OCU immediately gained the lead back on a pair of Dawn foul shots and a Fiona Wilson triple, but the Evangels rattled off the next four on a pair of Littell free throws and Thomsen scooped in a tough layup from the left side to tie it at 56 with 3:23 remaining.
  • Scoring came at a premium over the next three minutes, but MACU took advantage of a major OCU mistake to take the lead at the end of the period. After a Coleman layup with 17 seconds to go tied it up, the Evangels forced Dawn to turn the ball over with a travel with three seconds left. After the play, Raegan Travis was whistled for a technical foul and Littell knocked down two free throws to give MACU the 63-61 edge heading into the fourth.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Mid-America Christian struggled to get anything going offensively through the first five minutes as MACU was held to just two points to allow OCU to claim a 69-65 lead on Ray Osborn's pull-up jumper at the 5:08 mark.
  • Kyleigh Leverich finally put MACU on the board with a second-chance three-pointer on the ensuing possession, but the Stars built their advantage back out to six over the next two minutes as an and-one from Amaya Gordon made it a 76-70 game with just under three minutes left.
  • Wycoff tried to will the Evangels comeback as a Wycoff knocked down a pair of free throws before blowing by her defender for the easy layup with 1:30 to go, bringing it to 76-74.
  • After forcing Dawn into another turnover on the ensuing possession, MACU had an opportunity to tie on Littell's layup attempt, but Wilson blocked the shot to put the ball into the Stars hands with under 50 seconds left.
  • On OCU's next possession, the Stars came up with the biggest shot of the game when Dawn fired up a shot-clock beating three from the top of the key with 17 seconds left to extend Oklahoma City's advantage to 79-74.
  • MACU tried to work quickly, getting Littell a quick look out of a timeout from the top of the key, but the shot fell short and OCU finished off the contest from the foul line as a pair of Dawn freebies sealed the 81-74 final.

GAME NOTES

• Even though Mid-America Christian was able to shoot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field, the Evangels struggled mightily with their three-point shooting converting a season-low 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) from downtown while going 23-for-34 (67.6 percent) from the free throw line.
• While MACU was able to outshoot the Stars, who knocked down 27-of-71 (38 percent) of their shots, Oklahoma City was far more effective from the arc and the line, going 9-for-25 (36 percent) from range and 18-of-20 (90 percent) from the charity stripe.
• The Evangels managed to dominate the rebounding battle, outrebounding OCU 51-36 with a 20-15 edge on the offensive glass, the Stars were more opportunistic with their second chances as OCU held a 16-12 in second-chance points.
• Oklahoma City played a much cleaner game offensively than MACU as the Stars committed just 11 turnovers to 17 for the Evangels, causing OCU to hold a decisive 19-9 lead in points off turnovers.
• Mid-America Christian struggled to find an answer for Annila Dawn, who finished with 34 points on 10-for-25 shooting and went 10-of-10 from the foul line while Fiona Wilson also chimed in with 20 points and nine boards.
• Jaci Littell led MACU's offensive efforts with 22 points, knocking down 9-for-10 from the stripe, but was challenged from the field by shooting 6-for-19 with a 1-of-6 rate from three. Littell also led MACU's rebounding attack with a season-high eight boards.
• Shy Christopher also reached the 20-point plateau, tallying 21 on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting, but struggled from the free throw line at 7-for-12 while pulling down six rebounds and dishing out a team-leading four assists.
• No other Evangels player was able to crack into double-figure scoring as seniors Sydney Wycoff and Aneli Thomsen were the closest at seven points apiece.
• With the defeat, Oklahoma City swept the season series against Mid-America Christian after defeating the Evangels 73-71 in El Reno, Okla. on Jan. 14. That loss actually sparked MACU's dominant 10-game win streak where the Evangels were defeating their opponents by a 27.3 points per game average.
• Despite suffering the loss, Mid-America Christian still locked up the No. 2 seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament by holding the tiebreaker over No. 18 Science & Arts due to the Evangels defeating SAC Champion No. 17 Texas Wesleyan on Feb. 4.
• Following the game, Mid-America Christian honored its four graduating seniors: Kyleigh Leverich, Whitney Outon, Aneli Thomsen and Sydney Wycoff.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will host seventh-seed Langston (Okla.) in the SAC Quarterfinal on Thursday, Feb. 23. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.

Original source can be found here