The Lowdown: (2) Mid-America Christian University vs. (7) Bluefield College (Va.)
NCCAA National Tournament Quarterfinals
Time: Mar. 15 @ 9:15 p.m.
Location: Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, Winona Lake, Ind.
Live Broadcast
NCCAA Bracket
Official NCCAA Tournament Page
The Dish on the Evangels: The Evangels are 22-11 on the season, already achieving their highest-win total since joining the NAIA. MACU advanced to the NCCAA National Tournament by capturing its first Central Regional championship since the 2010-11 season with an 85-76 victory over Southwestern Christian University last Saturday (Mar. 11).
The Evangels have won six of their last eight games overall, with the only two losses during that span coming to No. 5-ranked and SAC champion Oklahoma City University Stars.
Sarai Rodriguez leads the Evangels with an NCCAA-high 20.3 ppg, including a school record (as an NAIA program) 630 total points this season.
D'Shala Powell leads the Evangels with 6.3 rebounds per game, followed closely by Brittany Thompson with 6.2 rpg.
Mikki Flores is second in scoring (12.3 ppg) and has dished out 191 assists, the most in a single-season for the Evangels since joining the NAIA.
As a team, the Evangels are averaging a robust 80.0 points per game, which is 0.1 points ahead of the all-time school record.
The Dish on the Rams: The Bluefield College Rams are 17-14 and have won five of their last six games, including a 67-45 win over Alice Lloyd (Ky.) to win their second straight NCCAA Mid-East regional title. The Rams are an NAIA D-II program that competes in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.
Danae Cox leads the Rams with 11.4 ppg, while Courtney Kendrick is scoring 9.8 ppg with a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game. Hannah Preservati has recorded a team-best 131 assists on the season for Bluefield.
The Series: This will be the first-ever matchup between the Evangels and Rams.
The Coaches:
Hannah Moeller is 22-11 in her first season as head coach of the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball program, representing the most wins for the Evangels as an NAIA school.
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.
Corey Mullins is in his third season at the helm of the Bluefield College Rams following a two-year stint as an assistant coach for Presbyterian College. Mullins has guided the Rams to the last two NCCAA Mid-East regional championships. He also has previous head coaching stops at Covenant College, Kentucky Christian University and Boyce College.
Up Next: Win a win over Bluefield College, the Evangels will advance to the NCCAA tournament semifinals on Thursday night (Mar. 16) at 8:45 pm. The Evangels would face the winner of third-seeded Emmanuel College and sixth-seeded and tourney host Grace College.
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