GREENVILLE, S.C. – On top of putting together one of the best seasons in program history, the Mid-America Christian women's basketball team also had one of its strongest years academically as seven student-athletes were named to the NCCAA Scholar-Athlete list this week.
To be eligible for the esteemed list, a student-athlete must be a junior, senior or graduate student by academic standing, have completed at least one semester at the qualifying institution and maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.40 out of a 4.0 scale.
By having seven student-athletes receiving scholar-athlete honors, the Evangels had the most recipients of all NCCAA institutions.
Four of the seven Evangels receiving the honor are earning it for the second time in their careers, including seniors Aaliyah Endsley, Lexi Hernandez, Shelby Thrailkill and Sydney Wycoff while it is the third time in her MACU career Ossyana Ozoani has been named an NCCAA Scholar-Athlete. Both Presley Payahsape and McKenzi Lamer, who are newcomers to the Evangels this season also were tabbed with NCCAA Scholar-Athlete honors.
A 5-10 forward from Oklahoma City, Ozoani is a Biology major at Mid-America Christian has posted the highest grade-point-average on the team with a 3.90. Ozoani is coming off one of her best seasons after being named an NCCAA All-Central Region Second Team honoree, finishing the year with a 13.1 points per game scoring average on 59.2 percent shooting from the field and leading the team's rebounding efforts at 8.4 rpg.
Hernandez continued to excel both on the court and in the classroom as well. The 5-6 guard from Canyon, Texas entered the spring semester with 3.87 GPA while majoring in Biology. Hernandez was recently selected as the NCCAA Central Region Player of the Year after finishing the season with a 17.3 ppg scoring average on 50 percent shooting, 41.7 percent from three and 79.4 percent from the foul line. Hernandez also dished out a team-high 50 assists (4.2 apg), 39 steals (3.3 spg) and also ripped down 5.4 rpg.
Serving as the team's starting point guard for the last two seasons, Aaliyah Endsley will be graduating in May with a degree in Business Administration after finishing the fall semester with a 3.52 GPA. In just 44 games with the Evangels, Endsley ended her MACU career ranked ninth on MACU's NAIA era career assist leaderboard. In her two seasons with MACU, Endsley offensively averaged 7.5 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting as well as knocked down 74.2 percent from the free throw line.
Earning her first NCCAA Scholar-Athlete honor, Payahsape is collecting her second honor from the NCCAA already after she was named to the NCCAA All-Central Region First Team last week. The 5-9 junior forward from Cashion, Okla. averaged 15.6 ppg on 43.9 percent from the floor and was the team's top three-point shooter by knocking down a 44.4 percent clip for the season. Payahsape ripped down 4.7 rpg and turned in 18 assists to go with 12 steals on the defensive end. Payahsape is studying Elementary Education at Mid-America Christian, earning Scholar-Athlete honors with a 3.47 GPA.
Another first time honoree, Lamer was a spark plug off the Evangels bench during the 2020-21 campaign. An Early Childhood Education major posting a 3.55 GPA, Lamer scored a 9.6 ppg rate on 43.8 percent from the field and 41.8 percent from downtown this season. The Loyal, Okla. native knocked down seven three-pointers in two different games, including in her career-high 31-point output against Baptist Bible (Mo.) on Oct. 28.
In her third season with the MACU women's basketball program, Wycoff continued to be a tough, gritty point guard that produced well off the Evangels bench this season. The 5-6 junior from Ankeny, Iowa was a strong contributor off the bench, averaging 5.9 ppg on 41.4 percent shooting, 46.2 percent from three and 81 percent from the foul line. Wycoff is a player who can fill the stat line as she pulled down 3.8 rpg while notching a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio in just 17.4 minutes per game. Wycoff is currently a Biology major at MACU who is boasting a 3.71 cumulative GPA.
Rounding out the honorees, Thrailkill is a four-year member of the Evangels basketball program who will be graduating from the university in May. A 5-4 guard from Norman, Okla., Thrailkill currently possesses a 3.88 GPA while majoring in Biology heading into her final semester. Since coming to MACU in 2017, Thrailkill appeared in 58 games, averaging 2.1 in those appearances. In her last game against Central Christian on Senior Day on Feb. 13, Thrailkill turned in an 11-point performance off the MACU bench, going 4-for-9 from the floor and 3-of-8 from behind the arc.
Mid-America Christian ended the 2020-21 season with a 9-3 record and after finishing 6-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference play, were tabbed as the Sooner Athletic Conference Co-Champions, the first league title since joining the SAC in 2007. The Evangels were also selected to compete in their first ever NAIA National Championship Tournament, where they dropped a hard-fought 85-83 matchup to Columbia (Mo.) in the opening round on Mar. 12.
