The Lowdown: No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist University @ Mid-America Christian University
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Gaulke Activity Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Live Video
Live Stats
The Dish on the Lady Evangels: The Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels won for the third straight time with a 79-68 victory over the Texas Wesleyan University Lady Rams Saturday afternoon (Feb. 1). The Lady Evangels were firing on all cylinders from the perimeter, knocking down 14 three-pointers, only two shy of the overall school record. MACU was particularly hot in the second half, hitting 9-of-15 treys as they outscored TWU 44-19 to negate a four-point halftime deficit. Ashlee Ferguson hit five from downtown, only one away from the school single-game record. Cheyenne Been hit four threes and Maclayn Massey nailed all three of her three-point attempts.
The victory improves the Lady Evangels to 13-8 overall and into sole possession of fifth place in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 7-5 conference record.
Ashlee Ferguson is leading the Lady Evangels with 14.8 points per game, while Adaugo Osuala is scoring 11.4 ppg and is third on the team with 32 assists despite missing the past 10 games. Lauren McKinney is scoring 11.0 ppg and leads the Lady Evangels with 8.8 rebounds per game. Cheyenne Been is also averaging double-figure scoring at 10.7 ppg and is second on the team with 40 assists. Alliyah Spatafora has dished out a team-high 43 assists on the season.
As a team, the Lady Evangels rank third in the NAIA in both threes made (190) and seventh in threes per game (9.0).
Individually, Ferguson is 10th in the NAIA in threes per game (2.6).
The Dish on the Lady Bison: The No. 5-ranked Oklahoma Baptist University Lady Bison enter tonight's contest on quite a roll, winners of 12 straight that includes a 96-64 win over the Lady Evangels in the season's first meeting between the schools. OBU is 19-2 overall and leads the Sooner Athletic Conference with an unblemished 11-0 conference record.
Jalissa Council leads the Lady Bison with 13.1 ppg, while Charity Fowler is second in scoring with 11.6 ppg and has posted a team-high 6.5 rpg. Elisabeth Daniels has recorded a team-best 87 assists.
The Lady Bison are seventh in the NAIA in turnover margin (6.9), ninth in scoring margin (+17.9), ninth in assists (16.6) and 10th in assist/turnover ratio (1.1).
Council leads the NAIA in field goal percentage (.601) and Zbeyda Aremi is 10th in blocks per game (1.8 bpg).
The Series: The Lady Evangels have dropped 13 of 14 meetings with OBU since joining the NAIA, with the lone victory coming during the 2010-11 season.
The Coaches:
Marcus Moeller is in his first season as the head women's basketball coach after serving as assistant coach for the past two years. He has also served as the Assistant Athletic Director at MACU for the past year. Moeller has gotten off to a good start, guiding the Lady Evangels to an eight-game winning streak earlier this season, their longest since joining the NAIA.
Prior to arriving at MACU, Moeller after served three years as an assistant coach at Missouri Southern State University under the tutorship of head coach Maryann Mitts. In those three seasons, Moeller helped MSSU compile an overall combined record of 51-33 and qualify for three MIAA conference tournaments.
He assisted in all areas of the MSSU program including recruiting, scouting, practice and gameday preparations, and academic success.
Before coaching at MSSU, Moeller had a successful playing career at Ozark Christian College in Joplin where he played in all 147 games over a four-year span. Moeller, a two-year captain, averaged eight points and five assists while helping lead the Ambassadors to a 24-16 record his senior season.
Moeller earned a three-year Associate's degree in Christian Education from Ozark Christian College in 2008 and a BS in General Studies from Missouri Southern in 2010.
Casi Bays is in her second season at the helm of Oklahoma Baptist University after serving two
seasons as an assistant coach. Before coming to OBU, Bays was the head coach at Newcastle
(Okla.) High School and was a two-time Coach of the Year.
Up Next: The Lady Evangels will conclude their three-game homestand and host Wayland Baptist University Thursday evening (Feb. 6) at 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
