GREENVILLE, S.C. – The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) announced its Division I women's basketball awards for the 2020-21 season on Wednesday as senior guard Lexi Hernandez was selected as the Player of the Year while junior forward Presley Payahsape garnered NCCAA Second Team All-American honors.
Hernandez, a 5-6 guard from Canyon, Texas, is earning her third NCCAA honor of the 2020-21 season after she was already selected as the Central Region Player of the Year as well as a Scholar-Athlete for the second straight year on-top of earning Sooner Athletic Conference First Team accolades.
In her second year with the program, Hernandez stuffed the stat sheet night in and night out, averaging 17.3 points per game on a 50 percent shooting clip, including going 41.4 percent from the three-point arc and 79.4 percent from the charity stripe. On-top of her scoring efforts, Hernandez also averaged 5.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.3 steals per game.
Hernandez's best game of the season came in a 97-76 non-conference victory at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Nov. 12, 2020. In that contest, Hernandez scored a career-high 39 points on 13-of-22 from the floor, 5-for-10 from three and 8-of-9 from the foul line to go with nine rebounds and six assists to garner both the SAC Player of the Week and NCCAA DI Student-Athlete of the Week. The 39 points was the fourth-most scored by a single player since the program joined the NAIA and moved up to the NCCAA Division I level in 2007.
Earlier in the season, Hernandez found herself at the top of the MACU record books when she notched 10 steals in a 116-31 win over Baptist Bible (Mo.) on Oct. 28, shattering the previous record of seven for the most recorded in a single game during the NAIA era.
In her first season with the Evangels, Payahsape made an immediate impact for MACU's top scoring team in both the NAIA and NCCAA. A 5-9 forward from Cashion, Okla., Payahsape finished the season by averaging 15.6 ppg on 43.9 percent shooting and was the team's top three-point shooter at 44.4 percent. Payahsape also pulled down 4.7 rpg while finishing with 12 steals on the defensive end.
Payahsape dropped 20 points in her first game with MACU in a 102-93 victory over Oklahoma Wesleyan on Oct. 23. However, where Payahsape really hit her stride was during a three-game stretch over late February where she averaged 24 ppg, which included a career-best 27-point effort in a 70-66 victory at Texas Wesleyan where she hit the go-ahead shot with a minute remaining.
Payahsape is also earning her third award from the NCCAA after being selected as an NCCAA All-Central Region First Team honoree to go along with an NCCAA Scholar-Athlete award. Payahsape garnered All-SAC Second Team accolades as well.
Hernandez and Payahsape led Mid-America Christian to its best season by winning percentage (.750) in the last 14 years while helping lead the team to its first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Co-Champion run since joining the league in 2007.
