Oklahoma City, Ok – January 21, 2016 – The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) women’s basketball team continued to climb the ranks of the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC). After Thursday’s 75-68 win over Mid-America Christian , the Lady Lions are now in third place in the SAC.
SAGU is now 4-3 in the SAC and 11-7 overall. MACU is close behind SAGU, going 3-3 in the SAC and 6-7 overall.
Going into the game, SAGU and MACU were tied for third place. Head coach Tiffany Phillips knew it was a game her team needed to win, “We talked about needing a big win and how this game was a must-win for us and we just found a way to win.”
The Lady Lions jumped to a quick lead and by the end of the first quarter they were up on the Lady Evangels 24-19.
In the second quarter MACU switched to a zone defense which threw the Lady Lions off for a few minutes. Despite the switch, SAGU continued to lead and by halftime they were up 37-30.
With 3:12 left in the third quarter, SAGU senior Meghan Becker made a basket to extend SAGU’s lead to 14, the biggest of the night. From that point on, MACU started to work away at that lead.
By 5:17 left in the game, MACU’s D’Shala Culberson scored two points to bring the game to one point, 57-56.
25 seconds later, SAGU’s Bethany Krock made a three-point shot, followed by two made free throws from Laken Ward . In the final five minutes of the game, SAGU out-scored MACU 17-12.
“Defensively we did a great job against MACU’s Tolar,” explains Phillips, “She was averaging 22 points a game and we held her to four. That’s a credit to Bethany Krock and Alexis McAfee but it was a total team effort on both ends of the floor.”
“We stayed with our game plan and made key free throws to win the game. Our defense shut down their best players, winning us the game,” says Alexis McAfee .
SAGU senior Taylor Hill had 20 points and five assists. Dy’Teesha Diggles had 13 point and six rebounds and Charity Page had 12 points and eight rebounds.
MACU’s Jamie Lamb had 22 points.
On Saturday, January 23, 2016, SAGU will host Wayland Baptist University . WBU is currently ranked no. 21 in the NAIA. The Flying Queens are currently in second place in the SAC with a record of 6-1 in the SAC and 11-4 overall.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
Contact: Natalie Tristan, Sports Information, [email protected]
