South OKC News

History repeated itself inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night as the second-seed No. 22 MACU women's basketball team was stunned for the second time in three years by seventh-seeded Langston in a 59-58 defeat in the 2023 Oklahoma Ford Dealers SAC Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal.

 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Whitney Outon – 17 Points, 6-14 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-5 FT, 7 Reb, 2 Blocks
• Shy Christopher – 13 Points, 6-14 FG, 7 Reb
• Jaci Littell – 12 Points, 6-6 FT, 6 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Quarter
• Mid-America Christian (23-6) opened the scoring with buckets from Jaci Littell and Shy Christopher on back-to-back possessions in the first minute, but the Lady Lions rattled off 13 of the next 17 as Jamya Rogers offensive rebound and put-back gave LU the 13-8 advantage with 4:43 to go.
• The Evangels clamped down on Langston (17-12) over the final four minutes, holding the Lady Lions to just one point the rest of the way as a Christopher hoop-and-harm with 33 seconds left gave MACU the 16-14 edge going into the second period.
• Second Quarter
• The MACU defense continued to hold LU scoreless over the first 2:55 as a Whitney Outon three-ball from the top of the key stretch the Evangels' lead to 21-14 with just under eight minutes remaining.
• At the 7:05 mark, Anyia Pride snapped a 7:38 field goal drought for the Lady Lions with a right-handed lay-in as Pride chipped in another layup before Ayesha Thomas' foul shot with 6:02 left closed it to a 21-19 game.
• Langston kept it to a two-possession game over the remainder of the quarter, but Kyleigh Leverich beat the shot clock with a triple from the right corner off a great find from Outon at the elbow to swell the Evangels' edge to 29-23 at the break.
• Third Quarter
• Outon gave MACU its largest lead of the contest immediately out of the locker room as Christopher found the graduate student forward open for a wide-open layup on the left block to set the score to 31-23 just 19 seconds in.
• Midway through the quarter, LU strung together a six-unanswered run as two Veyoni Davis free throws cut it to a 35-33 game before the Evangels swung back with six-straight of their own as layups from Leverich and Outon preceded two Littell free throws to bring it to 41-33 with 2:51 left.
• After two more Littell free throws with 2:22 to go brought it back to an eight-point game, the Lady Lions held the Evangels scoreless down the stretch as a Hailey Jordan offensive put-back closed it to 44-39 heading into the final period.
• Fourth Quarter
• Langston scored six of the first eight through the first 90 seconds to tie it up before Tyaija Coleman poured in a pair of layups to set the MACU edge to 49-45 with 7:36 left.
• A quick Kameron Shelley three on the ensuing possession and a Koreea Kirksey triple a minute later gave the Lady Lions their first lead since late in the first quarter at 51-49 with six-and-a-half remaining.
• The two teams battled back-and-forth over the next five minutes as they exchanged the lead five times before Shelley put the Lady Lions up for good with a triple from the top of the key rolling off a screen to set the score to 59-58.
• The Evangels had two more chances for a potential game-winner, including a frantic final possession where Christopher came up with two huge offensive boards, the last coming with eight seconds left. However, MACU missed out on the opportunity at a winner when Leverich had the ball poked away from her going up for a shot at the buzzer as LU secured the upset.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the contest shooting 33.9 percent (21-for-62) and struggled from beyond the arc for the second straight game by knocking down just 16.7 percent (3-of-18). The Evangels also struggled from the charity stripe, wrapping up the contest at a 59.1 percent (13-for-22) clip.
• The Evangels were ice cold from three-point range in the second half as MACU went 3-for-7 in the first half, but were held to 0-for-11 from downtown over the final 20 minutes.
• Langston didn't fare much better from the field, making just 20-of-58 (34.5 percent), but the Lady Lions fared much better from the three-point arc and the foul line, going 7-for-20 (35 percent) from three and 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line.
• While both teams were in a dead-heat in regards to ball control with 14 apiece, Mid-America Christian did hold a 49-40 edge on the glass over the top rebounding team in the SAC, including a 20-11 edge on the offensive glass.
• Whitney Outon led three Evangels in double-figures with 17 points on 6-of-14 from the field, 2-for-4 from three and 3-of-5 from the stripe to go with a team-high seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
• Shy Christopher finished with 13 points, also converting on 6-of-14 attempts while equaling Outon with seven boards.
• Jaci Littell rounded out the double-digit scorers, but was ice cold from the field, making just 3-of-15 shots and was 0-for-7 from range while converting a perfect 6-for-6 from the line while yanking down six rebounds.
• It was a repeat performance for the Evangels against the Lady Lions in the SAC Tournament. During the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 campaign, second-seeded MACU squared off against the seventh-seeded Langston in the SAC Quarterfinal inside the Gaulke Activity Center and suffered just its second defeat of the season by a score of 75-66.
• With the loss, the Evangels have been eliminated from SAC Championship contention.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now regroup as it will await to see who it will face in the NAIA National Championship Tournament. The opening rounds will be played at 16 sites across the country from Mar. 7-8 before teams will advance to the final site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
• The tournament selection show will air on Thursday, Mar. 2 at 6 p.m. on the NAIA's YouTube channel.

Original source can be found here