OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner Athletic Conference officially unveiled its women's basketball preseason poll on Friday and Mid-America Christian will have some high expectations heading into the 2020-21 season after the Evangels were picked to finish third in the league standings.
Voted on by the league's 11 head coaches, MACU received 76 points, finishing one ahead of its travel partner rival Science & Arts at 75.
Coming off winning the SAC Tournament and finishing as the SAC co-regular season champion, Wayland Baptist was selected as the unanimous preseason favorite, garnering the maximum number of points with 100 and received 10 of the 11 first-place votes. Oklahoma City, the other team that won the SAC co-regular season championship finished second in the poll with 86 points and notched the other lone first-place vote.
Mid-America Christian is coming off its fourth straight top-four finish in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, finishing fourth in the league with a 12-8 mark, just one game back of USAO for third. The Evangels wrapped up the season with a 21-11 overall record, advancing to the SAC semifinal round before falling to the Stars in a highly competitive defensive match.
The Evangels were selected to compete at the NCCAA National Championships for the fourth straight year and were poised to make a run at winning the program's third straight championship before the tournament was canceled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
MACU will have some big shoes to fill with one of its all-time greats in Alexis Shannon graduating, but the Evangels do return one of the best guards in the SAC in Lexi Hernandez. The All-SAC Honorable Mention two-guard from Canyon, Texas finished second on the team in scoring last season at 11.7 points per game on 40 percent shooting from the field and converted a team-leading 82-for-229 (35.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The 5-6 senior sniper was also one of the team's best defenders, leading the squad with 51 steals while also recording 45 assists.
The Evangels also bring back one of their top point guards in Aaliyah Endsley. The 5-4 Newcastle, Oklahoma product finished second on the team with 105 assists a season ago and averaged 7.3 ppg on a 40.3 percent shooting clip. Despite missing a third of the season due to injury, senior forward Ossyana Ozoani will be looking at returning to early career form. In 24 contests last season, the Oklahoma City native finished second on the squad in rebounding average at 6.1 boards per game while averaging 7.1 ppg on 48.8 percent from the field.
Mid-America Christian is also highly optimistic about some of its incoming players, including a pair of NCAA Division II transfers from Northwestern Oklahoma in Presley Payahsape and McKenzi Lamer.
Last season, Payahsape competed in 28 games and made 14 starts for the Rangers. The 5-9 forward from Cashion, Oklahoma averaged 7.0 ppg on 41.1 percent shooting while serving as the team's best free throw shooter at 83.8 percent.
While Payahsape will provide an inside presence for MACU, Lamer will be another dynamic shooter on the outside for the Evangels. Last season with NWOSU, the 5-8 Loyal, Oklahoma native was the Rangers top three-point shooter, knocking down 63-for-165 (38.2 percent) from behind the arc while averaging 8.4 ppg over 28 games played.
The Evangels are also very high on junior forward Christina Jenkins. The six-foot Redlands Community College transfer was a strong low-post presence in her JUCO career, ripping down 359 rebounds in two seasons, averaging 6.3 rpg while also scoring 588 points (10.3 ppg). The Lawton, Oklahoma standout was an efficient shooter from both the field and the free throw line during her sophomore campaign, converting on 47.7 percent of her field goal attempts and 81.2 percent from the foul line.
Mid-America Christian will officially open the season on Friday, Oct. 23 as the Evangels will host Oklahoma Wesleyan for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
