OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off its first ever Sooner Athletic Conference regular season title, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team was picked to finish fourth by the league's coaches in the SAC Preseason Poll released on Thursday.
Voted on by the league's 12 head coaches, the Evangels received 98 points and one first-place vote, placing just one-point back of Oklahoma City in third and a commanding 26 points ahead of Southwestern Christian in fifth.
Wayland Baptist was picked as the preseason favorite, receiving 118 points and nine first-place votes while Science & Arts came in second in the standings with 106 points and two first-place tallies.
Langston earned 71 points for sixth, putting the Lions just a point back of the Eagles. Rounding out the bottom half of the poll was John Brown in seventh, followed by Oklahoma Panhandle State, Texas Wesleyan, Southwestern Assemblies of God, UNT-Dallas and Central Christian.
Last season, the Evangels finished the year with a 9-3 overall record and shared the conference title with Wayland Baptist with a 6-0 mark in SAC play. Mid-America Christian earned a bid to its first ever NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
Mid-America Christian brings back nearly its entire starting lineup from a season ago, headlined by senior Lexi Hernandez. A 5-6 guard from Canyon, Texas, Hernandez was an All-SAC First Team honoree and an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention on-top of being named the NCCAA Division I Player of the Year.
Hernandez was a spark plug in all facets of the game, leading the team in scoring at 17.3 points per game on 50 percent shooting from the field, 41.7 percent from three-point range and 79.4 percent from the charity stripe. Hernandez also led the team in assists with 50 (4.2 apg) and steals with 39 (3.3 spg) while finishing second on the squad in rebounding with 65 (5.4 rpg).
The Evangels will also be looking to get great contributions from senior forward Presley Payahsape, who was an All-SAC Second Team honoree last season after scoring at 15.6 ppg on 43.9 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. Payahsape also was solid on the glass for the Evangels, averaging 4.7 rpg.
Returning for the second half of the season last year, senior forward Ossyana Ozoani pieced together one of her best seasons in the low block, averaging 13.1 ppg on a blistering 59.2 shooting percentage while also leading the team on the glass with 67 board (8.4 rpg).
Junior guard Anna Kash and senior guard McKenzi Lamer were big time contributors on the offensive end a season ago, as Kash finished the 2020-21 campaign with an 11.2 ppg scoring average while Lamer was one of the team's best three-point shooters with a 41.8 percent rate to average 9.6 ppg.
The Evangels will be expecting senior point guards Kyleigh Leverich and Sydney Wycoff to continue putting up phenomenal assist numbers as Leverich averaged 4.0 apg and Wycoff contributed 2.6 apg last season.
Adding to an already deep team, Mid-America Christian has some newcomers that are expecting to make a major impact, headlined by Baker transfer Abby Bird. The 6-0 senior forward from Overland Park, Kan. comes to MACU as a three-time Heart of America All-Conference performer. The Evangels will be expecting to get some solid minutes out of NCAA Division II Oklahoma Baptist transfer Kaylee Hurst and high school standout Jade Millan.
Mid-America Christian will officially tip-off the 2021-22 season on Saturday as the Evangels will host Ozark Christian for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
