The Lowdown: (2) Mid-America Christian University vs. (1) Roberts Wesleyan College
NCCAA National Tournament Third Place Game
Time: Mar. 18 @ 11:00 am (CST)
Location: Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, Winona Lake, Ind.
Live Broadcast
NCCAA Bracket
Official NCCAA Tournament Page
The Dish on the Evangels: The Evangels are now 23-12 this season after a heartbreaking 75-74 setback to the Emmanuel College (Ga.) Lady Lions in the NCCAA semifinals last night (Mar. 16). MACU roared back from a 20-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the score late, but the Lady Lions hit one free throw to snap the tie and then got a defensive stop in the final seconds to hold on for the win.
Sarai Rodriguez leads the Evangels with 19.9 ppg, including a school record (as an NAIA program) 658 total points this season. She is also just one point shy of 1,000 for her career.
D'Shala Powell leads the Evangels with 6.2 rebounds per game, followed closely by Brittany Thompson with 6.1 rpg.
Mikki Flores is second in scoring (12.2 ppg) and has dished out 206 assists, the most in a single-season for the Evangels since joining the NAIA.
The Dish on the Redhawks: The top-seeded Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks, the defending NCCAA National Champions, are 20-13 overall following a 78-72 upset to fourth-seeded Greenville College in the NCCAA semifinals last night.
Brooke Fields leads Roberts Wesleyan with 15.6 ppg and Taya Andrews is second in scoring with 14.7 ppg. Emily Miller is scoring 13.3 along with a team-high 7.4 rpg, while Lucy Covley is also averaging double-figure scoring with 10.5 ppg. Necedah James has recorded a team-best 123 assists on the season for the Redhawks.
The Series: This will be the first-ever meeting between MACU and Roberts Wesleyan.
The Coaches:
Hannah Moeller is 23-12 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 also guided the Evangels to their best-ever Sooner Athletic Conference finish of fourth this year along with their first NCCAA Central Regional championship since the 2010-11 season.
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 took 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.
Gary Andrews is in his first season as head coach of the Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks. Andrews comes to the Redhawks following a 13-year tenure at his alma mater St. Francis (Ind.). Andrews recorded 322 wins at St. Francis, including two NAIA Division II Final Four appearances and an NAIA Division II national title in the 2013-14 campaign.
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