The Lowdown: St. Gregory's University @ Mid-America Christian University
Time: Jan. 7 @ 3 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 lost their first Sooner Athletic Conference game Thursday night (Jan. 5) at No. 8-ranked Oklahoma City University.
The Lady Evangels are now 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the SAC.
Sarai Rodriguez has been the offensive catalyst for the Lady Evangels, whose 20.6 points per game leads the team and ranks second in the Sooner Athletic Conference and sixth in the NAIA. Rodriguez has already earned two National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Player of the Week awards along with one OklahomaSports.Net honor.
Rodriguez has also hit a team-high 33 threes and is second on the team with 58 assists on the season.
Flores is second in scoring with 12.1 ppg, while dishing out a conference-leading 85 assists. Her assists per game (6.07 apg) is third in the SAC and fifth in the NAIA.
Thompson leads the Lady Evangels in rebounding with 7.9 boards per game.
As a unit, the Lady Evangels are first in the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game (34.5) and second in total rebounding (50.2). MACU also ranks third in the NAIA in scoring offense per game (84.5), fifth in total rebound margin (11.2) and ninth in offensive rebounds per game (15.7).
The Dish on the Cavaliers: The St Gregory's University Cavaliers lost Thursday (Jan. 5) at Southwestern Assemblies of God University 75-65 to fall to 2-8 overall and 0-3 in the SAC.
Kylee Tatum is leading the Cavaliers with 18.5 ppg this season, followed by Lauren Godbold at 10.2 ppg. Chelsea Exum has a team-high 7.6 rebounds, with Kelsie Howgard recording a team-best 35 assists on the season.
Tatum's ppg is 12th in the NAIA, while the Cavaliers also rank 12th as a team in blocks per game.
The Series: The Lady Evangels have gotten the best of the Cavaliers since joining the NAIA, winning the first eight meetings between the two schools and 13 of 16 overall after sweeping the season series last year.
The Coaches:
Hannah Moeller has begun her first season 11-3 as head coach of the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball program, including matching the team's best-ever 10-game start as an NAIA school at 9-1.
Moeller is no stranger to MACU; she served as the assistant women's basketball coach during the 2010-2011 season for current Yale University assistant coach Roman Owen.
Moeller takes over the program after a four-year tenure at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College, now Randall University. During her time at Hillsdale, Moeller was named the 2016 NCCAA National Coach of the Year, won two national championships, was twice named Southwest Regional Coach of the Year, coached nine All-American players and touted a 105-28 coaching record.
In her four seasons working with Hillsdale Free Will Baptist, Moeller accomplished the following:
2016 NCCAA National Coach of the Year
2016 NCCAA National Runner-Up
2013, 2014 ACCA National Champions
2015 ACCA National Runner-Up
2013 and 2016 NCCAA Southwest Region Coach of the Year
2016 season spent 14 weeks ranked #1 in the country
In addition, Moeller was responsible for the recruitment and development of the following student-athletes:
2016 NCCAA/ACCA National Player of the Year
Five NCCAA All-Americans, three for repeating years
Nine ACCA All-Americans, five for repeating years
Three NCCAA Southwest Region Most Valuable Players
Nine NCCAA All-Southwest Region players
14 NCCAA/ACCA Scholar Athletes
Moeller served as the associate head coach at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist during the 2011-2012 and helped lead the Lady Saints to the 2012 ACCA National Championship. Moeller is no stranger to MACU; she served as the assistant women's basketball coach during the 2010-2011 season for current Yale University assistant coach Roman Owen.
After signing to play basketball at the University of Louisiana-Monroe as a senior in high school, Moeller finished her playing career at Rogers State University where she was named the 2009 Rogers State University Female Student Athlete of the Year, a 2009 NAIA Academic All-American and the 2009 Distinguished Graduate of the Sports Management department.
Moeller holds an Associate of Arts from Southwestern Christian University and a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management from Rogers State University. Her graduate work is in physical education from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Hannah, her husband Marcus and their 10-month old son Owen reside in Oklahoma City and attend Frontline Church Downtown.
Jenone Bell is in her second season as head coach of St. Gregory's University. Prior to taking over head coaching duties, Bell served as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers. Bell has amassed 20 years of coaching experience, most recently a three-year tenure as head coach at Southern University-Shreveport.
Up Next: The Lady Evangels will remain at home and host Wayland Baptist University next Thursday evening (Jan. 12) at 6 pm.
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