OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament will make its return to the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday night as the fourth-seeded Mid-America Christian women's basketball team will host No. 5 seed Texas Wesleyan for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (20-10, 12-8 SAC) picked up a pair of must-win games to wrap up the regular season last week, thrashing Central Christian on Senior Night by a score of 114-73 before heading to Langston on Saturday and pulling out an 87-74 victory.
In the win over the Lady Tigers, the Evangels scored the fifth-most points in a single game during the NAIA era. Senior forward Alexis Shannon led MACU with 29 points on 8-for-11 shooting, going 3-for-3 from the three-point arc and knocking down 10-of-14 from the charity stripe to go with seven rebounds and three assists.
Senior guard Jessica Fairley also scored a season-high 25 points off the MACU bench, shooting a blazing 9-for-15 from the field as well as 5-for-5 from the foul line. Senior guard Rachel Tapps also put together one of her finest games in a MACU uniform, scoring 17 points and notching her first double-double of the season with 10 rebounds.
Against Langston, the Evangels started out hot out of the gate and held off the Lady Lions to secure the No. 4 seed in the SAC Tournament. Shannon led five Evangels into double-figures with 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting and finished just a rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Ossyana Ozoani and Tapps each recorded a double-double as Ozoani finished with 12 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds while Tapps tallied 10 points and 10 boards.
SCOUTING THE LADY RAMS
Texas Wesleyan makes its way into Tuesday night's contest as the No. 5 seed with a 17-10 overall record and a 12-8 mark in SAC play. Last week, the Lady Rams won a pair of home games to close out the regular season, defeating Southwestern Assemblies of God 85-76 before taking down John Brown 87-72 on Thursday.
Senior guard Nicole Gleason will lead the TWU offensive efforts, averaging 14.9 ppg on a 42.5 percent shooting clip while knocking down a team-best 86-for-242 (35.5 percent) from three and 81.4 percent from the foul line. Gleason is also the team's top rebounder and defender, ripping down 6.7 rpg, has blocked 22 shots and ranks second in the SAC with 71 steals.
The offense will run through senior point guard Destiney Winkfield, who leads the team with 99 assists while also serving as the team's second-most prolific scorer at 12.3 ppg.
HISTORY WITH THE LADY RAMS
Mid-America Christian holds a 13-4 edge in the series since the 2009-10 season. The two teams split the season series, as Texas Wesleyan won the matchup in Fort Worth 80-64 on Jan. 16 before the Evangels bounced back with an 83-77 win at the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 15. In the rematch, Alexis Shannon led the way with 20 points and six rebounds while Rachel Tapps poured in 17 points while also ripping down six boards.
WELCOME BACK, SAC TOURNEY
After heading to Waxahachie, Texas for the first round game of the SAC Tournament last season, the Evangels are back at home to host their third SAC Quarterfinal in the last four seasons. In the two previous SAC Quarterfinals, the Evangels topped Texas Wesleyan 75-68 on Feb. 28, 2017 but fell to No. 5 seed John Brown 83-69 during the SAC Quarters on Feb. 27, 2018. MACU will be looking for its fifth win in the SAC Quarterfinals, holding a 4-5 record in their nine previous appearances during the first round of the tourney.
SWEETER THAN 600
By making a free throw with 24 seconds left against Langston, senior forward Alexis Shannon scored her 600th point of the season. Shannon is only the second player in the entire NAIA to reach the 600-point plateau this season as she is currently averaging a career-best 20 ppg. It is the second time in Shannon's illustrious career that she's reached the 600-point mark and is just 13 points away from tying her career high. The Noblesville, Ind. native is also just 32 rebounds away from tying her career-best mark that sits as the fourth-most boards in a single season during the NAIA era.
