Waxahachie, Texas—December 14 , 2017 —The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) women’s basketball team used a hot shooting night to defeat conference opponent Mid-America Christian University (MACU) and move to 2-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) competition. SAGU is now 5-4 overall. MACU moves to 1-2 in conference and 5-4 overall.
MACU jumped out to an early first quarter lead over the Lady Lions. They lead 20-9 at the end of the first quarter but SAGU used a big second quarter to pull within four at the half, 31-35. SAGU shot 44% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line in the first half.
“I thought we came out really slow tonight in the first quarter. We didn’t have the intensity that we needed to have on the defensive end of the floor and that really affected us on the offensive end. MACU came out and pressured us a lot in our halfcourt offense and took us out of rhythm, so lots of credit to them for that,” says SAGU Head CoachTiffany Phillips
SAGU would go on to outscore MACU 23-20 in the third quarter and 31-28 in the fourth quarter lea by Lexi Rich and Kiara Glenn. Ebony Colbert hit a driving layup and was fouled to give SAGU the lead with four minutes remaining in the game but there would be several lead changes in the next four minutes. Finally, SAGU pulled away and was able to maintain the lead and hit enough free throws to secure the win.
Offensively, SAGU shot 53% from the three point line on 10 of 19 shots. They shot 57% from the field and scored 34 points in the paint. Sophomore Lexi Rich led the Lady Lions in scoring with 27 points, freshman Kiara Glenn had 20 points, and junior Dotty Diggles had 11 points. Mckenzie Martin and Eva Atunuwa each had nine points and Ebony Colbert finished the game with seven points for the Lady Lions.
Head Coach Tiffany Phillips was pleased with the win and happy the young team was able to find a way to win on the road, “We made plays when we had to tonight. Players stepped up big and we had some big bench minutes tonight from Sydney Meador and Eva Atunuwa. I thought overall it was a great win for our program. It really helps us moving forward. I am so proud of this team.”
SAGU will be at home for the first time in six weeks this Saturday to take on the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO). USAO is currently 2-1 in conference play and 7-2 overall. Game time is set to begin at 3:00 PM.
