SHAWNEE- On Thursday evening, St. Gregory's (2-22, 0-17 SAC) women's basketball team fell, 90-61 to Mid-America Christian University (19-9, 10-7 SAC).
For the first 8 minutes of the game, the Cavaliers looked very sharp. They led the Evangels 13-4 with 4:30 to go in the first quarter, and then the Evangels started to chip away at the lead. At the end of the quarter, the Cavs only led 15-14. The key to the SGU's early success was their defense, good rebounding, and they were shooting for a high percentage (.400). However in the second half, MACU came out red hot, and quickly took their first lead of the game, and extended that lead to 19 points at the end of the first half. Mid-America made 12 of their 18, second quarter shots, and they out-rebounded SGU, 13-5 in the quarter. The Evangels forced the Cavs into committing 11 first half turnovers, 6 of which were MACU steals.
Kylee Tatum (SR/Bethel, Okla.) and Lauren Godbold (FR/Arlington, Texas) each scored 10 points in the first half for St. Gregory's and D'Shala Powell scored 16 points in the half for MACU.
To start the third quarter, SGU was playing well and they were out-scoring MACU in the first few minutes, 8-5. However, then MACU would go on another offensive run, and extend their lead to 61-37 with 3:30 to go in the third quarter. At the end of the third, Mid-America Christian led 70-50. The Evangels kept on extending their lead in the fourth quarter, and won the game 90-61.
Kylee Tatum finished with 18 points, and Lauren Godbold finished with 15 points. Danielle Butler (SR/Ft. Worth, Texas) tied her career high in points, with 10, and she also set a career high with 7 assists. Shanques Garrett (SR/Tulsa, Okla.) scored 6 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.
The Evangels were led by D'Shala Powell's 21 points and 7 rebounds. Jessica Fairley recorded a couble-double, by scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Tamiyjah Smith scored 10 points to go with 7 rebounds, and Mykayla Flores and Jaiden Alley each scored 9 points.
MACU's bench out-scored SGU's bench, 45-12, and the Evangels out-rebounded the Cavs, 55-35. Mid-America shot 45.71 percent from the field and St. Gregory's only shot for 30.9 percent.
The Cavs will play their final game of the year on Saturday Feb. 25, when they take on SAGU in Waxahachie, Texas at 3 PM.