South OKC News

The No. 23 Mid-America Christian women's basketball team put together a dominant second half performance, outscoring Langston 53-32 over the final 20 minutes to run away with an 89-68 victory over the Lions in the two teams' Sooner Athletic Conference opener inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Wednesday night.

 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sydney Wycoff – 16 Points, 6-11 FG, 2-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 13 Reb, 6 Assists, 3 Steals
• Whitney Outon – 17 Points, 6-9 FG, 2-3 3FG, 9 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Blocks
• Shy Christopher – 17 Points, 6-14 FG, 5-5 FT, 3 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
  • After giving up the first score at the 8:32 mark, Mid-America Christian put together a strong response as Sydney Wycoff scored five straight before Whitney Outon finished off a layup off a Wycoff assist to make it a 7-2 MACU lead with 6:58 left.
  • A Kameron Shelley three-ball for Langston ignited a strong 10-2 run that was capped off on a Jordan Hailey three-point play to give the Lady Lions a 12-9 advantage with three minutes to go.
  • Back-to-back Alexis Borgstadt buckets briefly gave the Evangels the edge with 2:18 remaining, but LU scored four of the last five points to hold the 16-14 edge at the end of one.
• Second Quarter
  • After Shy Christopher and Hailey traded the first two scores, Mid-America Christian strung together a nine unanswered run that was ignited by a Tyaija Coleman three-point play followed by layups from Jaci Littell, Borgstadt and Christopher, pushing the Evangels' lead out to 25-18 with 7:27 on the clock.
  • With MACU maintaining a seven-point cushion following a Kyleigh Leverich three with just over five minutes left, Langston put together a stifling defensive effort over the next four minutes as the Lady Lions rattled off nine straight that was finished off on an Ayasha Thomas steal and fastbreak layup to give LU the lead back at 34-32 with 1:51 remaining.
  • MACU managed to briefly get the lead back when Sydney Wycoff drove down the lane and beat the shot clock with a running right hander with 17 seconds left, but Jordan made a strong spin move in the lane and got a contested floater to fall with four seconds left to send the game into the half with a 36-36 tie.
• Third Quarter
  • The Evangels got off to a blistering start to the second half as MACU knocked down five of its first seven shots as Outon capped a 14-4 Evangels run with a three from the top of the key with a hand in her face off the Wycoff kick-out to make it a 50-40 MACU advantage at the 6:18 mark.
  • The Lady Lions briefly knocked the lead down to seven before MACU stretched it out to 12 following a pair of Christopher scores before a Borgstadt foul shot made it 55-43 with 3:19 to go.
  • Langston was able to knock the MACU edge down to single-digits on three different occasions over the rest of the period, the last coming on an Anyia Pride layup with 31 seconds left, but the Evangels closed out by scoring four of the last five as Coleman capped the quarter with a strong take before scoring the hoop and drawing the foul with 1.8 seconds left to send Mid-America Christian into the fourth with a 64-52 advantage.
• Fourth Quarter
  • Littell caught fire from behind the arc to start the third quarter as the junior guard knocked down a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions to swell the MACU lead out to 74-59 with 6:10 to go.
  • LU's Koreea Kirksey responded with a three-ball on the ensuing possession, but the Evangels swung back even harder with a string of eight straight off a Wycoff three and a Christopher three-point play before Wycoff capped the run with a steal and fastbreak finish at the rim to give MACU its first 20-point cushion at 82-62 with 3:39 remaining.
  • Langston could only bring it to as close as 15 the rest of the way as a Kyleigh Leverich made a high degree of difficulty layup and drew the foul with 27 seconds left as her following free throw closed out the 89-68 final.

GAME NOTES

• Offensively, Mid-America Christian finished the game by shooting 31-of-65 (47.7 percent) from the floor and 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from three-point range while efficiently converting on 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) of its foul shots.
• The Evangels were especially dominant in the second half as MACU knocked down 17-of-31 (54.8 percent) from the field and 5-for-9 (55.5 percent) from downtown.
• MACU held Langston to just 25-of-77 (32.5 percent) shooting and 5-for-25 (20 percent) from three while knocking down 13-for-20 (65 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Mid-America Christian was able to outrebound Langston by just a slim 48-46 margin, but the Lady Lions were able to get several second-chance opportunities off 20 offensive rebounds to just 12 second chance boards for MACU.
• Langston won the turnover battle by a slim 15-to-16 margin, but the Evangels were able to finish with 15 assists as a team to only eight for the Lady Lions.
• MACU was balanced once again offensively with six players scoring nine or more points, led by Whitney Outon, who narrowly missed a double-double with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 2-for-3 from three to go with nine rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Shy Christopher also finished with 17 points on 6-for-14 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line to go with three boards and three assists.
• Graduate student guard Sydney Wycoff recorded her first career double-double as she scored 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting and 2-of-3 from three to go with a career-high 13 rebounds, a game-high six assists and three steals on the defensive end.
• Jaci Littell rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 12 points, 10 of which coming in the second half while going 4-for-10 from the field and 2-of-4 from three to go with a pair of rebounds and two steals.
• Tyaija Coleman and Alexis Borgstadt provided a spark off the MACU bench with nine points apiece as the MACU bench outscored Langston 21-12.
• By getting the win, Mid-America Christian is now 8-2 all-time against Langston and has won eight straight regular season games against the Lady Lions since 2019. LU's lone win in that stretch came in the SAC Quarterfinal on Feb. 23, 2021.
• The victory allowed MACU to remain unbeaten at 5-0 this season with a 1-0 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play while Langston fell to 5-2 and 0-1 to start SAC competition.

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