The Basics
Score: Evangel 79, Culver-Stockton 70
Records: Evangel (12-7, 10-6); Culver-Stockton (0-14, 0-12)
Location: Charles Field House 

Box Score

CANTON, Mo. – Evangel outscored Culver-Stockton by 17 points over the final three periods Thursday evening to negate a strong start by the Wildcats and post its fourth-straight Heart of America Athletic Conference victory with a 79-70 win at Charles Field House.

Logan Jones powered EU's comeback from a 12-point second-quarter deficit with a career-high 22 points. The freshman went 9-of-12 from the floor to surpass her previous single-game scoring high in just 19 minutes of playing time.

The Crusaders took control of the game with a 10-2 third-quarter run, using three-pointers by Kohnnar Patton and Alexis Cauthon to take the lead for good. A Brianna Vogts bucket with 8:57 left in the contest stretched the EU lead to 61-54—its largest of the game to that point.

But the Wildcats responded by scoring eight of the next 11 points to slice the margin to two points with just under seven minutes left on the clock.

Evangel had an answer of its own, getting a Bayley Harman trey to open a 9-1 spurt that extended the advantage to double digits. Sophie Sparks knocked down a jumper in the lane, and Jones added a pair of buckets to make it a 73-63 game with 4:32 left in regulation.

Culver-Stockton would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way, as EU capped a strong second half in which it shot 48.6 percent from the field.

The victory was made possible by a late first-half charge that saw the Crusaders bounce back from a 12-point deficit. Trailing 22-10 in the early stages of the second period, Vogts and Jones combined to score 10-straight EU points to spark the Crusader offense. Jones kicked off an 11-0 EU run with a successful jumper at the 4:39 mark, as the Crusaders turned a nine-point deficit into a 29-27 advantage.

The Wildcats hit on 14-of-30 (0.467) first-half field goal attempts to take a 36-34 edge into intermission. Led by Vogts' 13 first-half points, EU connected on 43.3 percent of its tries from the floor, but struggled from long range, sinking just 1-of-8 three-point attempts in the half.

Evangel's defense forced 23 turnovers in the contest and shut out the Wildcats from beyond the arc (0-for-7). Nya Taylor scored 19 points to lead Culver, while Payton Curley added 18 and Jada Summers finished with a double-double of 14 points and 16 rebounds.

Vogts complimented Jones' big night with 19 points and six rebounds, while Harman totaled 11 points for EU.

UP NEXT
Evangel returns home to close the regular season with three-straight Heart Conference contests at the Ashcroft Center. The Crusaders will open the home stand Monday (Feb. 15) with a 5:30 p.m., matchup against Graceland.

For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, follow the Crusaders on Facebook at Facebook.com/EUAthletics, Twitter (@EUAthletics), or visit EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the new Evangel Crusaders GamedayApp through Google Play. 

—EvangelAthletics.com—