OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team will look to get back on the winning track this weekend as the Evangels will be competing in the Oklahoma City University Classic at Abe Lemons Arena from Nov. 15-16. MACU will open the tourney against Haskell Indian Nations University at 6 p.m. on Friday before closing out the classic with Philander Smith College at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
After pulling off a stunning 61-59 upset at NCAA Division I North Texas on Nov. 7, the Evangels struggled at Huston-Tillotson, dropping their first game of the season by a score of 74-66 on Nov. 9. Despite shooting 54.5 percent from the floor in its own right, MACU just couldn't slow down the red-hot Lady Rams, who knocked down 66.7 percent of their shots in the second half. Junior guard Lexi Hernandez led the scoring efforts, tallying 17 points on 5-of-12 from the field and 2-for-5 from the three-point arc. Junior guard Aaliyah Endsley also provided a spark off the bench, notching 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and went 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
SCOUTING THE INDIANS
Haskell enters Friday's classic with a 3-5 overall record, but have been on a bit of a slide, dropping three in a row since opening the season by winning three of its first five. The Indians are coming off a tough home loss on Tuesday, dropping a 79-55 matchup to Kansas Wesleyan.
Junior forward Tiana Guillory leads the Indians scoring efforts, averaging 18.4 points per game on 45.3 percent shooting and 37.5 percent from the three-point arc while also leading the team in rebounding at 6.3 boards per game.
Senior point guard Janee Bates is the team's top distributor with 26 assists at a 2.9 per game clip while also serving as a strong defensive force, averaging 3.4 steals per game.
HISTORY WITH THE INDIANS
The Evangels will be facing Haskell for just the third time since the start of the NAIA era and the sixth time since the 2004-05 campaign. Mid-America Christian is 4-1 in those previous five meetings, with the last coming on Nov. 16, 2013 in a 78-73 road victory in Lawrence, Kan.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Philander Smith is off to a strong start in the 2019-20 season, as the Panthers enter the OCU Classic with a 6-0 record. PSC is coming off a dominant win at Texas A&M-Texarkana, pulling out a 93-67 victory.
Senior guard Terralyn Dominick leads a group of four Panthers averaging double-figures, scoring at a 17.3 ppg clip while knocking down 32.3 percent of her three-point attempts as well as shooting 93.8 percent from the foul line. On top of being an offensive force, Dominick is also just as tough on the defensive end, averaging 3.8 steals per game.
Senior guard Ciara Pettis is a force in the low block, averaging 16.5 ppg and leading the team in both rebounding (7.0 rpg) and passing (3.3 apg).
HISTORY WITH THE PANTHERS
Mid-America Christian and Philander Smith will be facing each other for the first time in the NAIA era.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
On Nov. 7, 2018, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team lost an 82-35 exhibition contest at NCAA Division I North Texas. Exactly a year later, the Evangels completely turned the tables on the Mean Green as MACU rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to stun the Mean Green, 61-59 at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas on Nov. 7, 2019. The victory was the Evangels first ever win over an NCAA Division I opponent in the NAIA era.
REFOCUSING ON DEFENSE
After giving up 51 percent shooting in their last two regular season games and 72.7 percent from the three-point arc at Huston-Tillotson, the Evangels defense will look to refocus this weekend. A normally opportunistic defense that was forcing their opponents into committing 25.7 turnovers a game could only muster 17 takeaways against the Lady Rams. With the Indians averaging 20 turnovers per game, Mid-America Christian could right the ship in the takeaways department, but will face a much strong challenge from a Panthers squad that's only committing 12.7 tpg.
