OKLAHOMA CITY – Entering the 2018-19 season, and coming off an NCCAA Division I National Championship, Mid-America Christian University women's basketball head coach Hannah Moeller made sure to note that the expectations for this season have not changed.
"Winning is not the most important thing in our program," she remarked in a press conference in early October. "It's a byproduct of a lot of good things, but for us, first and foremost, our number one goal is that young women in our program will have a clearer picture of Christ when they leave."
Still, the Evangels have done a lot of winning under Moeller's leadership, and MACU seems poised to do more of that this season. The Evangels have won 45 games in her two seasons at the helm of the program, and they return nearly all of their 2018 National Championship team, led by returning Sooner Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, Alexis Shannon.
Shannon brings the third best scoring average (18.2 ppg) in the SAC back to the lineup, and she is far from alone. The Evangels return nearly 76% of their offensive output from a year ago, including returning four of their five starters from the title team. Shannon was an honorable mention for NAIA All-America status, and she earned a spot on the NCCAA All-America First Team.
The Evangels also bring back plenty of secondary scoring. Nevada Denton, Jessica Fairley, Jennah Coffman, and Ossyana Ozoani – a member of the All-NCCAA Tournament team – all scored at or near the 10-point per game threshold. Denton, Fairley, and Coffman combine to lead one of the deepest wing positions in the SAC, and it only got deeper this offseason with the addition of forwards Loralei Siliga and Avery Gregory.
Siliga averaged nearly 18 points per game at Marshalltown Community College (Iowa) last season, canning 50 3-point shots on the year. She totaled 834 points in two seasons for the Tigers, and she added better than seven rebounds per contest as a sophomore last season. Gregory adds a defensive presence on the floor, as well as the ability to distribute the ball from the wing.
The one major hole the Evangels had to fill entering the offseason was with the departure of NCCAA Tournament MOP Chelseah Savage. Savage was a leader in the locker room all season for the Evangels as a senior, but down the stretch of the season, she emerged as a star at the point guard position. She averaged nearly four assists per game, and she only turned the ball over 80 times during the season.
The Evangels have brought in a pair of point guards – one at each end of the eligibility spectrum. Sydney Wyckoff – a freshman – comes to the program from Ankeny Centennial High School in Ankeny, Iowa. She was first team All-Central Iowa Conference as a senior, and she also earned Iowa Girls' Coaches' Association All-District honors. She also earned All-CIC honors in each of her previous three seasons – First Team as a junior, and Second Team as a sophomore and as a freshman.
Shaylan Coleman comes in as a senior after transferring from Oklahoma Baptist University. Coleman was one of the Bison's leading scorers in 2017-18, averaging 13.7 points per game from the point guard spot, and she was second on the team in assists with 88 in 24 games (3.7/game). She also registered 19 blocked shots and 55 steals.
The schedule for the Evangels is daunting once again this season. Once again this season, the Evangels will head to the College of the Ozarks (Mo.) Coke Classic in mid-November, and this season, the Bobcats will return a non-conference game to the Gaulke Activity Center in early December. The Sooner Athletic Conference slate opens on November 29th with a trip to Goodwell, Oklahoma to take on the Aggies of Oklahoma Panhandle State University, and the SAC home opener will be on December 13 against Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
The second semester slate sets up interestingly for the Evangels as well. Although they have two of their final three games on the road, MACU only has to leave the Oklahoma City area for a game twice after January 19.
The season sets up to give MACU a chance to make program history in 2018-19, but coach Moeller knows that to get where the Evangels want to go, the task remains the same. "We have got to beat OCU, we have got to beat John Brown, and we have to beat Wayland Baptist," she noted, referencing three perennial powers at the top of the Sooner Athletic Conference. "And if we do that, we'll be fine."
