The Basics
Score: Evangel 79, Graceland 46
Records: Evangel (13-8, 11-7); Graceland (6-16, 5-14)
Location: Ashcroft Center

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Evangel women's basketball team buried Graceland with a season-high 17 three-pointers en route to a 79-46 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over the Yellowjackets Tuesday afternoon at the Ashcroft Center.

The Crusaders built a double-digit lead in the opening quarter, then eliminated all doubts about the outcome with an 11-0 spurt at the onset of the second half to turn a 17-point lead into a 55-27 cushion.

Bayley Harman set the tone for the afternoon by knocking down her first two attempts from three-point range and tallied 12 of her game-high 16 points in the first half. She also registered six steals and four assists for the game, while Kohnnar Patton added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting to help the EU bench outscore the Graceland reserves by a 49-15 margin.

Evangel finished the game 17-of-39 (0.436) from beyond the arc and recorded 22 steals off 36 GU turnovers to pull away for the convincing win.

EU came out of the gate locked in from long range, burying four of its first seven attempts from beyond the three-point arc to establish an 11-point first-period lead. Harman drained a pair of triples in the opening minutes, and Patton came off the EU bench to hit 3-of-4 field goal tries in the game's first 10 minutes.

The same duo would continue to torment the Yellowjackets in the second period, finishing the first half with 25 of the Crusaders' 44 points. EU connected on 10-of-22 (0.455) three-point attempts to establish a 44-27 advantage at the break.

EU's defense flustered Graceland as well, forcing 17 first-half turnovers to offset a 0.458 shooting effort in the half.

Four different Crusaders contributed points during the game's decisive run to start the second half. Brianna Vogts' bucket ignited the outburst, before baskets by Harman and Alexis Roach pushed the margin over 20 points. Harman added a pair of free throws, and Alexis Cauthon connected from long range to extend the lead to 28 with 5:38 left in the period.

Graceland would get no closer than 26 the rest of the contest, with EU ultimately pushing its lead to 32 on Rylee Neill's second-chance three off of a Desi Smith offensive board just 16 seconds into the fourth period. Neill's third and final trey with 1:29 left in the contest accounted for the final margin—the Crusaders' largest lead of the day.

Sophie Sparks recorded a game-high five assists to go along with four steals for EU, while Neill went 3-of-4 from three-point range for nine points and Sadie Chisum added eight points and four assists.

Brooke Vermeer led Graceland with 12 points and three assists, helping GU shoot 0.439 (18-of-41) for the game.

UP NEXT
The Crusaders will close out the regular season with a 2 p.m., Heart Conference matchup against MidAmerica Nazarene Saturday (Feb. 20) afternoon at the Ashcroft Center.

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—