OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner Athletic Conference unveiled its 2022-23 Preseason Poll voted upon by the league's 12 head coaches as Mid-America Christian was selected to finish third in the upcoming season's ranking.
MACU was one of three teams to receive more than 100 points with 103, finishing just one point behind Texas Wesleyan in second as both teams collected a first-place vote.
The 2021-22 SAC regular season and tournament champion Wayland Baptist was tabbed first with 116 points and grabbed nine of the available 12 first place votes.
The Evangels finished six points ahead of rival Science & Arts in fourth with 97 points and a first-place vote while John Brown took fifth with 87 points. Langston rounded out the top-half of the ranking in sixth with 68 points.
Mid-America Christian is coming off its winningest season in program history as the Evangels finished the highly successful 2021-22 campaign with a 28-5 overall record and narrowly missed winning the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season title after going 19-3 in league play, placing just one game back of the Flying Queens. The Evangels also won their first ever NAIA National Tournament game on their second trip to the tourney after defeating Briar Cliff (Iowa) 76-64 on Mar. 11.
While MACU lost a large portion of its scoring from last season's squad, the Evangels return its dynamic back-court duo of graduate student guards Sydney Wycoff and Kyleigh Leverich.
During the 2021-22 campaign, Wycoff averaged 8.8 points per game and shot an efficient 49.5 percent from the floor as well as 36.5 percent from the three-point arc. The Ankeny, Iowa product was also one of the team's best defenders, finishing second on the squad with 52 steals and was the team's second-leading rebounder with 135 boards at a 4.2 per game clip.
A great on-ball defender in her own right, Leverich was the offensive catalyst for the 22nd-best scoring team in the NAIA (76.2 ppg) by leading the passing efforts with 118 assists, averaging 3.7 per game. The Cushing, Okla. native was also an efficient shooter when asked to score, knocking down 40 percent of her attempts from both inside and outside the arc while scoring 5.1 ppg.
Despite the Evangels losing most of its talent from last season, MACU was able to bring in a stellar recruiting class with nine new players, five of which have competed at the NCAA Division I and Division II level.
Shy Christopher, a redshirt sophomore guard that played at NCAA Division I Southeastern Missouri State last season, is a dynamic player that competed in 17 games and made 10 starts. The athletic wing from Jacksonville, Ark. averaged 6.8 ppg on 43.9 percent shooting and also dished out 23 assists while pulling down 49 rebounds during the 2021-22 season.
Another NCAA D-I transfer Tyaija Coleman will expect to make an impact as well as she competed in 19 games and made eight starts for Oral Roberts in 2020-21 before missing last season.
The Evangels also have three dynamic NCAA D-II transfers in junior guard Jaci Littell (Central Oklahoma), graduate student forward Whitney Outon (Cameron) and sophomore guard Alexis Borgstadt (Oklahoma Christian), who are all expecting to make some hefty contributions.
In three seasons with Central Oklahoma, Littell scored 526 points (6.7 ppg) and dished out 143 assists while leading the Bronchos to three straight winning campaigns competing in the highly competitive Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA).
Playing in another premiere league in the Lone Star Conference (LSC), Outon put together a prolific career with Aggies. The six-foot forward from Oklahoma City scored 605 points (5.8 ppg) in her four-year Cameron career while shooting 39.5 percent from the field and is a big who can stretch the floor by knocking down 32.8 percent of her three-point shots. Outon is coming off the best season of her collegiate career, scoring 230 points (8.2 ppg) while burying 42-for-130 (32.3 percent) from beyond the arc while also pulling down 129 rebounds (4.6). Outon is also a strong defensive presence in the low-post, tallying 65 career blocked shots, 22 of which coming in 2021-22.
Another competitor from the LSC, Borgstadt played a large role in her freshman campaign with the Eagles. During Oklahoma Christian's 2021-22 season, Borgstadt saw action in 23 games and made two starts, providing a strong defensive spark by tallying 23 steals and scoring 93 points (4.0 ppg) on a 36.9 percent shooting clip.
MACU will have a strong balance of youth and experience as three true freshmen will compete alongside a trio of sophomores, three juniors and four grad students.
For the second straight year, Mid-America Christian will host the Sooner Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championships. The Quarterfinal round will be hosted by the top four seeds in the league on Feb. 23 before the semifinals and championship game will be played inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 27-28.
Mid-America Christian will officially tip-off the 2022-23 season at home on Friday, Oct. 28 as the Evangels host Paul Quinn (Texas). Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
