OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team will be hosting one of the toughest teams in the NAIA on Thursday night as the Evangels will be taking on nationally second-ranked Wayland Baptist in a non-conference matchup. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.

Schedule note: MACU's matchup against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday, Nov. 7 has been canceled.
 

LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (2-0) is coming off one of its best defensive performances in program history as the Evangels came away with a 116-31 victory over Baptist Bible (Mo.) on Oct. 28.

MACU forced an NAIA era program record 41 turnovers and held the Patriots to the third-fewest points the Evangels have ever allowed in a single game. The 85-point margin of victory was also the second-largest since joining the NAIA in 2007, sitting only behind the 91-point differential in MACU's 130-39 victory over Manhattan Christian (Kan.) recorded on Oct. 25, 2019.

Junior guard McKenzi Lamer had a breakout game for the Evangels, scoring a career-high 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting and knocked down 7-of-12 from behind the three-point arc to go with four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Her seven made triples was the fourth-most made in a single game during the NAIA era, sitting only behind Ashlee Ferguson (9, 8) and Mykayla Flores (8).

Senior guard Lexi Hernandez made history in the matchup, finishing just a pair of assists shy of a triple-double with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and going 2-for-5 from the three-point arc while tallying 10 steals, eight assists and six rebounds. The 10 steals in the contest shattered the program's single game record of seven that was previously held by seven different players while her eight assists matched Aaliyah Endsley's program-best effort during the 2019-20 campaign.

Endsley was also one of the six to score in double-figures for MACU, pouring in 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting and went 6-for-6 from the foul line while also nabbing four steals and two assists. Shelby Kraus, Presley Payahsape and Aneli Thomsen rounded out the Evangels' double-digit scorers with 14, 10 and 10 respectively.
 

SCOUTING THE FLYING QUEENS
No. 2 Wayland Baptist will be playing the Evangels in its season debut after the team was picked to repeat as the Sooner Athletic Conference champion according to the league's preseason coaches' poll.

Last season, despite WBU suffering some early season losses against No. 12 Central Methodist (Mo.) and No. 3 Oklahoma City, the Flying Queens won 27 straight to finish the season with a 31-2 record and tied for the regular season conference title with a 19-1 league mark. Wayland Baptist defeated the Stars in the SAC Championship game and were selected to compete at the NAIA Tournament as a No. 1 seed before the event was canceled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the team graduating All-American guard Morgan Bennett, the Flying Queens are returning a talented lineup headlined by senior forward Kaylee Edgemon and junior guards Payton Brown and Jenna Cooper.

Edgemon, a 5-11 forward was the team's leading scorer a season ago, averaging 13.6 points per game on 46.7 percent shooting and converted 74.6 percent from the foul line while ripping down 5.4 rebounds per game. Defensively, Edgemon was solid as well with 16 blocked shots and 19 steals.

An All-SAC Honorable Mention recipient last season, Brown averaged 10.5 ppg on 43.3 percent shooting, 33.6 percent from the three-point arc and a blistering 86.5 percent from the charity stripe. The 5-7 junior guard was the team's best on-ball defender with 52 steals and finished second on the team with 99 assists to go with a 4.8 rpg average.

Cooper was also a prolific shooter for Wayland Baptist a year ago, averaging 12.4 ppg on the team's best 48.4 percent shooting clip and finished second on the team with 51 made threes at a 36.4 percent rate. A six-foot forward, Cooper led the team with an 8.6 rpg average and finished third on the squad with 86 assists to go with 25 blocks and 27 steals.
 

HISTORY WITH THE FLYING QUEENS
Mid-America Christian will be seeking to turn things around in the series as Wayland Baptist holds a 22-4 edge in the series since the teams started facing each other in 2008. The Flying Queens won both of the matchups during the 2019-20 season, coming away with a 93-71 win over MACU on Jan. 9 before handing the Evangels a 103-69 defeat at the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 8.

MACU will be looking for a similar result to its 2019 matchup at the Gaulke Activity Center with Wayland Baptist as the Evangels pulled out an 85-66 upset in the Jan. 24 contest.
 

DON'T MESS WITH LEXI
After leading the team in steals a season ago, senior guard Lexi Hernandez has only continued to improve on the defensive end of the court. The 5-8 guard from Canyon, Texas currently leads the NAIA with 13 steals and ranks second with a 6.5 steals per game average. Her 10-steal effort last week is currently tied with Life (Ga.)'s Maeisha Teasley for the most by a single game. Just two games into her second season with the Evangels, Hernandez currently has 64 career steals, just 24 away from breaking into the program's NAIA Era Top 10 list. Hernandez is also chasing after a couple program offensive records as she's so far climbed to eighth on MACU's career made three-pointers list with 87 and is just 32 conversions away from cracking into the top five.
 

HOME ON THE RANGE
So far through the 2020-21 season, Mid-America Christian has seen some big time production from its four transfers from the NCAA Division II Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers program. With her 31-point effort last week, McKenzi Lamer currently leads the team with a 20.5 ppg scoring average. Junior forward Presley Payahsape is currently scoring at a 15 ppg clip after dropping 20 in the season-opener against Oklahoma Wesleyan on Oct. 23. Aneli Thomsen, who transferred in from NWOSU last season is averaging 9.0 ppg while Kyleigh Leverich ripped down five rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded a pair of steals against the Eagles in the season opener.
 

STAT LEADERS

• Points: McKenzi Lamer (41, 20.5 ppg), Lexi Hernandez (35, 17.5 ppg), Two Tied with 31
• Rebounds: Shelby Kraus (17, 8.5 rpg), Lexi Hernandez (12, 6.0 rpg), Two Tied with 8
• Assists: Lexi Hernandez (11, 5.5 apg), Aaliyah Endsley (7, 3.5 apg), Four Tied with 4
• Steals: Lexi Hernandez (13), Aaliyah Endsley (5), Presley Payahsape (5)
• Blocks: Shelby Kraus (3), McKenzi Lamer (2), Three Tied with 1