The Lowdown: USAO @ Mid-America Christian University
Time: Feb. 11 @ 6 p.m.
Location: Gaulke Activity Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
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The Dish on the Lady Evangels: For the second straight week and third time overall this season, the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels have a player selected as the Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week. This time, it's D'Shala Culberson, who posted a double-double of 25 points and 19 rebounds to lead an 87-56 victory over St. Gregory's University last Saturday (Feb. 6).
Culberson shot a perfect 10-of-10 from the floor and also hit all five of her free-throw attempts. Her 19 boards are only one shy of tying her own school single-game record (as an NAIA school) she set earlier this season in a 98-90, double-overtime win over John Brown University (1/7).
The Lady Evangels also got 22 points and a career-high tying six assists from Kelli Tolar, with Sarai Rodriguez scoring 14 points along with six dimes. Alliyah Spatafora scored 12 points and hit 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
The Lady Evangels are now 9-11 overall and 6-6 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
Tolar leads the Lady Evangels with 21.5 ppg and has hit a team-high 66 threes. Rodriguez is second in scoring with 17.9 ppg and has dished out a team-high 78 assists on the season. Culberson has a team-best 8.9 rebounds per game.
The Lady Evangels are all over the map in the NAIA national rankings, ranking first in threes per game (9.2), fourth in three-point percentage (.374), fifth in assists per game (17.3), seventh in defensive rebounds per game (29.9) and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.035).
Individually, Tolar is first in the NAIA in threes per game (3.4) and second in points per game (22.0). Also, Culberson is 10th in defensive rebounds per game (6.2).
The Dish on the Drovers: The USAO Drovers (3-14, 2-10 SAC) are coming off a 74-64 overtime loss at Bacone College on Saturday (Feb. 6) and have lost five of their last six overall.
Mahogany Nelms leads the Drovers with 12.8 ppg, while Kiah Cummings is second in scoring with 10.1 ppg and has a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game. Jordan Williams is pacing the Drovers with 44 assists and Ilze Teilane has swatted a team-high 85 shots on the season.
As a team, the Drovers lead the NAIA with 5.5 blocks per game and are fourth in defensive rebounds per game (30.4).
Teilane ranks first in the NAIA in blocks per game (5.3) and is sixth in defensive rebounds per game (6.6).
The Series: After dropping the first five games against the Drovers, the Lady Evangels have won 12 of the last 13 games between the two schools since joining the NAIA. MACU and USAO split the season series last year, with each squad winning at home The Lady Evangels are 6-2 against USAO at home and have won the last six meetings inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
Boarding School: The Lady Evangels and Drovers are two of the top squads in the NAIA in cleaning up the defensive glass. USAO currently ranks fourth in the NAIA in defensive rebounding (30.4), while the Lady Evangels are seventh in defensive boards (29.9).
The Coaches:
Seth Froese is in his first season as head coach of the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball program.
Froese is no stranger to the squad, having served the past two seasons as assistant coach under former head coach and current MACU Athletic Director Marcus Moeller.
Under Moeller, Froese helped the Lady Evangels record consecutive winning seasons for the first time since joining the NAIA in 2007.
In his first season on the staff, Froese helped the Lady Evangels achieve program-bests in overall victories (18) and conference wins (11) in the competitive Sooner Athletic Conference.
Froese has brought extensive coaching experience to the program that dates back to his days as a student in the late 1990s at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan.
During the 2012-13 season, Froese coached at Edmond North High School as the assistant boys' varsity coach. The Huskies posted their first winning season in five years, going 14-11 and advancing to the 6A Area tournament before losing to state semifinalist Putnam City in overtime. Edmond North was also one of only two teams to beat 6A state champion Edmond Memorial.
Froese served as an assistant coach at NAIA Division I and transitional NCAA Division II California Baptist University, in Riverside, CA, from the 06-07 season through the 2010-11 season. During his time at California Baptist, the Lancers advanced twice to the NAIA Division I National Tournament. In the 07-08 season, they advanced to the "Sweet 16" where they lost to eventual national champion Oklahoma City University. The Lancers also enjoyed their first national #1 ranking during the 08-09 season and competed against NCAA Division I programs, UCLA and Seton Hall.
Froese worked as an assistant coach at NAIA Division II Tabor during the 2005-06 campaign in which the Blue Jays finished 15-15 overall and advanced to the championship game of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Postseason Tournament as the sixth seed. That was Froese's second stint at Tabor as he also served as the assistant women's coach from 1998-2000.
Prior to that, Froese served as a scout for both the California Baptist men's and women's basketball programs during the 2004-05 seasons. The Lancer men advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NAIA Tournament.
Froese also has experience in the high school ranks. From 2001-03, he served as an assistant varsity boys' basketball coach while teaching at Owasso (Okla.) High School. He spent the 2000-01 season as the head varsity girls' basketball coach at Mission Valley High School in Eskridge, Kan.
In addition to his coaching experience, Froese also served as camp coach at the Roy Williams Basketball Camp at the University of Kansas in 2001.
Froese graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology from Tabor in December 1999 and was a dean's scholar. While a student, he served as student assistant coach for the 1997-98 men's basketball squad. The Blue Jays won the KCAC title.
He also earned his master's in kinesiology with an emphasis in sports management in May 2005 from California Baptist. While working on that, he served an internship in NCAA compliance at the University of California-Riverside.
Froese and his wife, Liberty, live in Edmond and have three sons, Noah (12), Kannon (9) and Rayph (7).
Darrick Matthews is in his first season at the helm of the USAO Drovers. Matthews was previously the head coach at Southwestern Christian University last season, helping SCU to a fourth-place finish in the SAC. Before being named the women's basketball head coach, Matthews served two seasons as assistant men's basketball coach at SCU.
Up Next: The Lady Evangels will play at No. 14-ranked Wayland Baptist University Saturday afternoon (Feb. 13) at 1 p.m. in Plainview, Texas.
