The Lowdown: No. 7 Oklahoma City University @ Mid-America Christian University
Time: Feb. 25 @ 3 p.m.
Location: Gaulke Activity Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Live Video:
Live Stats:
The Dish on the Evangels: The Mid-America Christian University Women's Basketball Evangels won their third straight game to reach 19 wins for the first time as an NAIA program in defeating the St. Gregory's University Cavaliers 90-61 Thursday evening (Feb. 23) in Shawnee, Okla.
The win, coupled with a Texas Wesleyan loss at No. 17 John Brown, puts the Evangels in great shape to host a SAC tournament quarterfinal game next Tuesday night (Feb. 28). The official SAC tourney pairings are set to be announced Sunday (Feb. 26).
The Evangels were bolstered by a season-high 21 points from D'Shala Powell and Jessica Fairley posting a career-high 17 points along with career-best totals of 10 rebounds and six assists.
Rodriguez has been the offensive catalyst for the Evangels, whose 20.4 points per game leads the team and ranks second in the SAC and third in the NAIA. Rodriguez has earned three National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Player of the Week awards along with one OklahomaSports.Net honor this season.
Rodriguez has also hit a team-high 73 threes and is second on the team with 100 assists on the season. She is fourth in the NAIA in free-throw percentage (.861) and ninth in threes per game (2.8).
Mikki Flores is second in scoring with 12.4 ppg and is third in the conference and sixth in the NAIA in assists per game (5.68 apg). She also has 159 total assists this year, the most in a single-season for the Evangels since joining the NAIA.
Jamie Lamb is scoring 9.4 ppg and Brittany Thompson leads the Evangels in rebounding with 6.7 boards per game.
As a unit, the Evangels are fifth in the NAIA in both total rebounds per game (45.7) and defensive rebounds per game (30.3), sixth in scoring offense per game (80.2) and ninth in threes per game (7.8).
The Dish on the Stars: The No. 7-ranked and regular season SAC champion Oklahoma City University Stars are on quite a roll, winners of 11 straight games and 24 of their last 25 overall to come in at 25-2 and 16-1 in the SAC.
Daniela Wallen leads the Stars in both points (24.1 ppg) and rebounds (9.1 rpg), with Daniela Galindo averaging 17.4 ppg along with a team-best 65 threes. Mariana Duran has recorded a team-leading 155 assists on the season for OCU.
Wallen is also tops in the NAIA in points per game, second in steals per game (3.89) and fifth in the field-goal percentage (.565). Galindo leads the NAIA in free throw percentage (.910) and is third in three-point percentage (.464). Duran ranks fifth in assists per game (5.7) and Janae Haag is ninth in assist/turnover ratio (2.28).
As a team, OCU leads the NAIA in both field-goal percentage (.511) and free throw percentage (.791) and is second in assists per game (18.8), third in both scoring margin (24.4) and three-point percentage (.377), fourth in scoring offense per game (83.2), sixth in the categories of blocks per game (4.5) and field-goal percentage defense (.337), eighth in total rebound defense (32.7) and assist/turnover ratio (1.157) and 10th in total rebound margin (8.25).
The Series: The Evangels have dropped all 20 meetings against OCU since joining the NAIA after the Stars won the first matchup this season at home. Last season, MACU gave OCU everything it wanted in the SAC tournament semifinals, but came up short 87-85 when a three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
SAC Implications: If the Evangels secure their first-ever win over OCU, they're guaranteed to host a SAC tournament quarterfinal here next Tuesday (Feb. 28). Even with a loss, MACU is still in good to shape to finish in the top four and host, provided that USAO doesn't upset No. 13 Wayland Baptist University on the road and Texas Wesleyan University doesn't fall at Bacone College.
Offensive Showcase: The matchup with the Evangels and Stars will showcase two of the top three scorers in the NAIA this season. The Stars' Daniela Wallen leads the NAIA with 24.1 ppg, while Sarai Rodriguez of the Evangels is third at 20.4 ppg.
The Coaches:
Hannah Moeller has begun her first season 19-9 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.
Bo Overton is in his second season at the helm of the Oklahoma City University Stars. In his first year, Overton led the Stars to a 20-9 record, a berth in the SAC tournament title game and a NAIA National Tournament berth.
Overton has coached abroad for the past few seasons, including serving as the assistant coach for the Chinese national team in the 2012 Olympics. Overton was an assistant coach under Sherri Coale at the University of Oklahoma from 1998-04 that featured an NCAA Final Four appearance in 2002 along with three Sweet 16 berths and five NCAA Tournament bids
Up Next: The Lady Evangels will await their opponent in the SAC Tournament, beginning on Feb. 28. Tournament pairings will be announced on Sunday (Feb. 26).
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