Men’s and Women’s Basketball
USAO Splits at Mid-America

MOORE – Yesi Castillo collected her second double-double in as many games to lead the University of Science and Arts to a 65-42 win over Mid-America Christian Saturday evening. The win was the first for the Drovers in four games and was the highlight of the night as the USAO men gave up a second-half lead and fell to MACU 66-63 giving the Evangels their first Sooner Athletic Conference win in school history.

Castillo led all scorers with a career-high 17 points and pulled down a game-high and career-high 14 rebounds as the USAO women jumped out to a 37-20 halftime lead. The Drovers continued to roll up the points as Charite Lewis finished with 13 points, and Je’antel Haynes and Sasha Ferguson scored nine points each.

USAO held the MACU women to only 25 percent from the field and a 0-for-10 performance from 3-point land. The win keeps USAO in the top half of the league standings with a chance to get into a three-way tie for fourth place with Rogers State and Oklahoma Christian if the Drovers can get a win at John Brown on Thursday.

The men were unable to overcome a poor shooting night and dropped their fourth game in a row. Despite dominating the first four minutes of play in the first and second halves, MACU played inspired basketball and would not go away.

Tim Nelson backed up his career-high 24 points against Oklahoma City Thursday night by hitting three 3-pointers in the first half, but MACU took a 26-25 lead into halftime. After another quick start by USAO in the second half, the Evangels battled back by hitting five 3-pointers in the second half.

The USAO men fell to 5-6 overall and 1-4 in the Sooner Athletic Conference while the women improved to 6-6 overall and 2-3 in the league. Both teams will travel to John Brown Thursday night before hosting Rogers State Thursday and Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday.

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