FLOWOOD — The easiest shots were the hardest for Porters Chapel to make on Thursday.

The Eagles missed seven layups and went just 3-for-12 from the foul line in the game, sowing the seeds of a 47-30 loss to University Christian.

John Kyle Davis and Christian McElveen led a balanced University Christian attack with nine points apiece, and Caleb Kellum had six points and eight rebounds. Of the eight players that scored for UC, none had less than three points nor more than nine.

Jacob Rachal had 14 points and 11 rebounds for PCA and Jeremy Roach scored eight points. Only three other PCA players scored, and none had more than four points.

“We’ve just got to slow it down. We’re trying to do too much at once. We’ve got to slow it down and keep the ball under control,” Roach said. “And the free throws, we just haven’t had a chance to work on them. Since we came over from football, we still haven’t had a solid week without a game.”

Although the missed layups hurt PCA, the real difference in the game were free throws. University Christian struggled right alongside the Eagles for three quarters, hitting just one of its first eight shots from the line. The Flames found their stroke in the fourth quarter, though, going 12-for-15 in the final period.

University Christian (9-9, 7-2 District 5-A) only attempted five shots from the field in the fourth quarter, hitting two, but still managed to pull away. After PCA closed to within seven points, at 32-25, UC finished the game with a 15-5 run. PCA was a dismal 3-for-15 overall from the field in the fourth quarter, and didn’t score a point in the last three minutes.

“That helped a lot. We’ve been working on our free throws down the stretch because that was the difference in a couple of games we lost,” Flames coach David McElveen said. “I’m proud to see the work is paying off.”

(G) U. Christian 57,

 PCA 19

Lindsay England scored all of her game-high 23 points in the first half, and also collected seven steals, as University Christian routed a cold-shooting Porters Chapel squad.

PCA was a dismal 8-for-42 from the field, with half of its made shots coming in the first quarter. Over the last three periods, PCA shot 12.5 percent. It was also just 2-for-10 from the foul line in the game.

That allowed University Christian to blow open a game that was relatively close at the end of the first quarter. England scored 14 points in the second as the Lady Flames outscored PCA 21-3 to take a 38-12 lead at halftime.

The lead swelled over 40 points in the fourth quarter as PCA continued to struggle. It didn’t score more than four points in any of the last three quarters.

Cristen Windham led PCA with seven points and six rebounds, and Paige Moore grabbed eight rebounds. Sarah Spann had 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals for University Christian (12-9, 8-1), and Grace Mayor had 12 points and seven rebounds.

*

Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.