OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's basketball team will be seeking one of its biggest upsets in program history tomorrow night as the Evangels will host the undefeated No. 1 team in the country, Oklahoma City at 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center. MACU will follow it up with a short road trip on Saturday as the Evangels will head up to Bethany to take on Southwestern Christian for a 2 p.m. tip-off.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (18-8, 10-6 Sooner Athletic Conference) suffered a setback on the road against Southwestern Assemblies of God, falling to the Lady Lions in Waxahachie, Texas on Feb. 13 by a score of 76-74 before bouncing back with an 83-77 home win against Texas Wesleyan on Feb. 15.
In the loss to SAGU, the Evangels struggled mightily on the offensive end in the fourth quarter, scoring just nine points as the Lady Lions rallied from a double-digit deficit to upset MACU. Alexis Shannon led the Evangels with 18 points and a season-high 13 rebounds while Lexi Hernandez scored 15 points on a sharp-shooting 4-for-7 from the field, 3-for-5 from three and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
However, MACU bounced back with a pivotal home win against a Texas Wesleyan team that is contending with the Evangels for the No. 4 spot in the SAC Tournament. Knowing that a loss would move MACU into a three-way tie with TWU and Southwestern Christian, the Evangels dominated the Lady Rams through the first three quarters, outscoring TWU 63-48. Texas Wesleyan fought back to make it a close game in the fourth, closing the gap to two at 77-75 with just over two minutes left.
In the final two minutes, the Evangels got clutch layups from Anna Kash and Loralei Siliga while clamping down on the defensive end to pull away with the victory. Shannon once again led MACU with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals while Rachel Tapps poured in a season-high 17 points on 4-of-5 shooting and made 8-for-9 from the foul line.
SCOUTING THE STARS
Top-ranked Oklahoma City enters Thursday night's matchup as the only undefeated team in the NAIA with a 25-0 record and a 16-0 mark against SAC competition. Last week, the Stars picked up three dominant victories, topping Southwestern Christian 82-49 on Feb. 11, winning at home on Feb. 13 against John Brown 62-39 and came away with a victory at Bacone 73-34 on Feb. 15.
OCU is led on the offensive end by sophomore center Abby Selzer, averaging 18.1 points per game on a 63.6 percent shooting clip, the second-best field goal percentage in the NAIA. The 6-2 post is also knocking down 80.1 percent of her foul shots while ranking second on the team at 6.4 rebounds per game. Senior forward Brennyn Seagler leads the Stars on the glass at 7.4 rpg while and is second on the team with 96 assists, finishing only behind senior guard Shamika Smith with 98.
Senior center Taylor Sylvester will present a problem in the paint for MACU as the 6-5 post ranks fifth in the NAIA with 66 blocks while sophomore guard Erika Ankney is the team's steals leader at 52, the third-most in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
HISTORY WITH THE STARS
Mid-America Christian is still seeking its first ever win against Oklahoma City as the Stars have won the previous 28 matchups since 2007. Despite suffering an 82-64 loss at Oklahoma City on Jan. 25, the Evangels gave the Stars a tough fight as MACU held a 39-37 lead early in the third quarter before the Stars attacked the paint and pulled away over the next 15 minutes for the win. Anna Kash led MACU with 16 points while Lexi Hernandez chipped in 12 points off 4-of-8 shooting from the three-point arc.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Saturday's matchup with Southwestern Christian will be a crucial one as the Eagles are contending with MACU for one of the top four spots by holding a 17-7 overall record and a 9-7 mark in SAC play. Last week, the Eagles split a pair of games, falling at home to No. 1 Oklahoma City 82-49 on Feb. 11 before rebounding with a 65-61 road win at John Brown.
SCU is led offensively by junior forward Thamires Andrade at 14.4 ppg on 46.5 percent shooting and 78.7 percent from the charity stripe. Kylee Vestal is also scoring at a 14.1 ppg while knocking down 42 percent of her three-point attempts and 83 percent from the foul line. The senior guard is also the team's top distributor with 75 assists. Senior forward McKenna Morley leads the Eagles on the glass at 5.8 rpg.
On the defensive end, Morley is the squad's best shot blocker with 13 while Vestal is the team's best on-ball defender with 45 steals.
HISTORY WITH THE EAGLES
The Evangels are 13-7 against Southwestern Christian since joining the Sooner Athletic Conference prior to the start of the 2007-08 season. MACU was won the last four meetings and 10 of the last 11 matchups since getting an 84-58 win over the Eagles in the SAC Tournament on Mar. 3, 2016. In their last matchup at the Gaulke Activity Center, MACU dominated the Eagles through three quarters, holding a 70-45 lead before the Eagles caught fire in the final period to close it to a 93-84 game. Alexis Shannon led the Evangels with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting to go with 10 rebounds while Loralei Siliga poured in 19 on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
FOURTH QUARTER FIX
With just four games left in the regular season, Mid-America Christian will be looking to fix its fourth quarter scoring problem. While the Evangels are outscoring their opponents by (+88) in the first quarter, (+93) in the second quarter and (+94) in the third, MACU has oddly struggled in the fourth with a (-12) scoring ratio. While the Evangels have played well on the offensive end, averaging 19.7 points in the fourth quarter, the second-most of any of the four periods, MACU has struggled mightily on the defensive end with opponents scoring 20.2 points.
SAC TOURNAMENT WATCH – NECK AND NECK
As the Evangels enter the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, Mid-America Christian (10-6) has dropped down to the No. 4 spot after suffering its loss to Southwestern Assemblies of God (6-10), a game back of Science & Arts (11-5) for the No. 3 seed. However, with the Evangels toppling Texas Wesleyan (8-8) after the Lady Rams fell at home to Science & Arts, the Evangels hold a two-game lead over TWU and with Southwestern Christian (9-7) splitting their games last week, the Eagles are a game back of MACU. With the Evangels taking on the top team in Oklahoma City (16-0) as well as traveling to SCU and the Eagles playing at Science & Arts on Thursday, it'll be a pivotal week for all four teams in these matchups as USAO, MACU and SCU are battling for a home conference tournament game while OCU is trying to hold off Wayland Baptist (15-1) for the league title.
