OKLAHOMA CITY – With just three weeks left in the regular season, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team is battling for one of the top spots in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. The Evangels will open the week in Waxahachie, Texas for a 6 p.m. matchup at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Thursday, Feb. 13 before returning home on Saturday, Feb. 15 for a 2 p.m. tip against Texas Wesleyan.
LAST TIME OUT
Last week, Mid-America Christian (17-7, 9-5 SAC) had an up-and-down week by splitting a pair of home games. The Evangels dominated on both ends of the floor in a 99-50 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday, Feb. 6 before dropping a 103-69 decision to No. 5 Wayland Baptist.
In the win over Oklahoma Panhandle State, senior forward Alexis Shannon scored a career-high 33 points on 14-for-21 shooting, the fourth-most field goals made in a single game by a MACU player in the NAIA era. Shannon also ripped down a team-high eight rebounds and dished out four assists in the victory. Senior guard Rachel Tapps was also stellar on the offensive end for MACU, tallying 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and ripped down six rebounds while dishing out a team-high six assists.
Despite suffering a loss to the Flying Queens, Shannon put together another outstanding offensive game, scoring 24 points on 8-of-18 from the floor and also knocked down a season-high 3-for-7 from the three-point arc to go with seven boards. The Evangels struggled to slow down a red-hot shooting WBU team that went 38-for-77 (49.4 percent) from the field, 16-for-32 (50 percent) from three and 11-for-12 (91.7 percent) from the free throw line.
SCOUTING THE LADY LIONS
Southwestern Assemblies of God enters Thursday night's matchup with a 10-11 record and a 5-9 mark in SAC play. Last week, the Lady Lions suffered an 82-54 loss at No. 1 Oklahoma City before falling at home to Southwestern Christian 79-63 for its third consecutive loss.
SAGU is led on the offensive end by one of the top scorers in the Sooner Athletic Conference in Lexi Rich. The senior guard is averaging 19.1 points per game, which ranks third in the league behind just Asheika Alexander of Langston and MACU's very own Alexis Shannon. Rich has knocked down the third-most threes in the conference at 64 while converting on 89.4 percent of her free throw attempts. Rich is also the team's leader in rebounding (6.4 rpg), assists (65) and steals (25) while assisted on the defensive side of the ball by junior center Phillipa Greene with 43 blocks, the third-most in the SAC.
HISTORY WITH THE LADY LIONS
Mid-America Christian holds a 10-8 edge over Southwestern Christian in the NAIA era, as the Evangels snapped a two-game losing streak to the Lady Lions their last time out with an 86-83 victory at the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 18. In that matchup, MACU fought its way back from a 10-point deficit early in the second half, as a Lexi Hernandez three-point bomb with 5:21 to go in the fourth quarter put MACU up for good. The Evangels built as much as a 10-point lead on an Aaliyah Endsley layup with 2:19 to go, but the Lady Lions stormed back to take a one-point lead with 14 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Alexis Shannon made a pair of clutch free throws and MACU came up with a big stop on the defensive end to secure the win.
SCOUTING THE LADY RAMS
Texas Wesleyan enters its Thursday night matchup with Science & Arts sitting fifth in the SAC with an 8-6 record and are 13-8 overall. The Lady Rams dropped a pair of matchups last week, falling 80-71 at Southwestern Christian before dropping a 73-50 home matchup to No. 1 Oklahoma City on Saturday.
With a balanced lineup that features eight players scoring at least 6 ppg, TWU is led by senior guard Nicole Gleason at 13.6 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting clip and has converted the fourth-most threes in the league at 63. Gleason is also the squad's top rebounder (6.9 rpg) as well as defender with 56 steals, the second-most in the league. Gleason also ranks second on the team in assists (53), sitting only behind senior guard Destiney Winkfield at 77. On top of being the team's top distributor, Winkfield also ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.4 ppg.
HISTORY WITH THE LADY RAMS
MACU is 12-4 against Texas Wesleyan in the NAIA era, but the Evangels will be looking to shake off an 80-64 road loss in Fort Worth back on Jan. 16. It is the second year in a row that Mid-America Christian has lost in Fort Worth, but the Evangels will look to replicate its last home result to the Lady Rams as MACU picked up a 72-60 victory the last time the two teams played inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 31, 2019. In that win, Alexis Shannon turned in a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
SHANNON SECURES SECOND IN ALL-TIME SCORING
In the win over Oklahoma Panhandle State last week, senior forward Alexis Shannon established herself as Mid-America Christian's second all-time leading scorer, surpassing Christina Schmidt's mark of 1656 career points on a fastbreak layup with 9:15 to go in the fourth quarter. Heading into this week's games, Shannon currently sits with 1682 points and is in the midst of the best offensive season in her college career. The Noblesville, Ind. native is averaging 19.6 ppg, which ranks sixth in the entire NAIA while shooting 47.6 percent from the field and is knocking down a career-best 38.6 percent from the three-point arc. Shannon made her 34th triple of the season in the loss to Wayland Baptist, setting a new career-high for made threes in a season.
SAC TOURNAMENT WATCH – DOWN THE STRETCH
After finishing fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the past three seasons, Mid-America Christian is in pursuit of its highest finish ever since joining the league in 2007. The Evangels are currently tied with Science & Arts for third in the conference standings at 9-5, a game ahead of Texas Wesleyan at 8-6 and 1.5 ahead of Southwestern Christian at 8-7. While the Evangels have split the season series with Science & Arts, the Evangels have some pivotal matchups to secure the No. 3 spot over the next three weeks. With the Lady Rams just a game back of MACU, Saturday's matchup will be a crucial one to stay near the top of the conference standings. If MACU can maintain a spot in the top four by the end of the regular season, the Evangels will host a first round SAC Tournament game for the third time in the last four seasons. The Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament will officially start on Mar. 3 with the top four seeds hosting the quarterfinals before the semifinal and final are played in Plainview, Texas on Mar. 6-7.
