OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 25 MACU women's basketball team will be looking to bounce back from a tough road loss on Thursday night as the Evangels host UNT-Dallas in their first home game of 2023 as the contest is slated for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center. The Evangels will then be back on the road on Saturday as MACU will head to Waxahachie, Texas to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God for a 2 p.m. tip-off inside the Sheaffer Center.
 
MACU SEASON REPORT

• Record: 10-3 (4-3 SAC)
• Last Game: Lost at Texas Wesleyan - 82-74 - Jan. 2, 2023 - Fort Worth, Texas
• Stat Leaders:
  • Points: Shy Christopher (190, 17.3 ppg), Jaci Littell (137, 13.7 ppg), Whitney Outon (121, 11.0 ppg)
  • FG% (Min. 3 FGM/G): Whitney Outon (46-101, 45.5%), Shy Christopher (69-153, 45.1%), Jaci Littell (41-120, 34.2%)
  • 3FG% (Min. 1 3FGM/G): Jaci Littell (25-61, 41.0%), Kyleigh Leverich (17-43, 39.5%), Whitney Outon (14-37, 37.8%)
  • FT% (Min. 2 FTM/G): Jaci Littell (30-36, 83.3%), Shy Christopher (44-64, 68.8%)
  • Reb: Whitney Outon (91, 8.3 rpg), Sydney Wycoff (63, 5.7 rpg), Shy Christopher (55, 5.0 rpg)
  • Assists: Sydney Wycoff (32, 2.9 apg), Kyleigh Leverich (29, 2.6 apg), Shy Christopher (26, 2.3 apg)
  • Steals: Jaci Littell (17, 1.7 spg), Sydney Wycoff (14, 1.3 spg), Shy Christopher (10, 0.9 spg)
  • Blocks: Whitney Outon (16, 1.5 bpg), Ashley Hopper (9, 0.8 bpg)

TEAM NOTES

• Mid-America Christian is coming off a tough loss at current Sooner Athletic Conference leader Texas Wesleyan on Monday. The Evangels got off to a sensational start, jumping out to as large as a 14-point lead in the first half and took a 45-37 lead into the halftime break. However, the Evangels struggled in the second half as the Lady Rams outscored MACU 45-29 in the second half to rally for the 82-74 home win.
• Despite suffering the loss, MACU got some big time production from its two leading scorers in Shy Christopher and Jaci Littell, who combined to score 55 points on 17-of-40 (42.5 percent) shooting, including 7-for-14 (50 percent) from behind the three-point arc. Christopher's 28 points and Littell's 27 points were both career-high outputs for each player.
• After coming up with a pair of blocks in the defeat, graduate student forward Whitney Outon is currently averaging 1.5 rejections per game. Currently, Outon is on-pace to become just the fourth MACU women's basketball player in the NAIA Era (2007-present) to average more than one blocked shot per contest.
• Graduate student guard Sydney Wycoff is also on-the-climb in MACU's NAIA Era record book. Currently with 258 career assists, the Ankeny, Iowa product needs just two more dimes to match Mykayla Flores for the third-most career dimes. Graduate student guard Kyleigh Leverich is also making her mark in the career assist record book as she is just 13 assists from becoming only the sixth player to finish with 200 dimes in the NAIA Era.

SCOUTING REPORT
UNT-Dallas

• Record: 8-2 (6-2 SAC)
• Last Game: Lost at Texas State – Dec. 22, 2022 – San Marcos, Texas (Exhibition)
• Series vs. MACU (2022-): MACU leads 2-0
• Last Game vs. MACU: MACU won 59-42 – Feb. 6, 2022 – Waxahachie, Texas
• Players to Watch:
  • Zyunn Cormier – JR – G
    • 180 Points (22.5 ppg), 65-129 FG (50.4%), 22-51 3FG (43.1%), 28-31 FT (90.3%), 34 Reb (4.3 rpg), 11 Assists (1.4 apg), 20 Steals (2.5 spg)
  • Delyssa Miller – GR – F
    • 91 Points (13.0 ppg), 34-90 FG (37.8%), 7-25 3FG (28.0%), 16-26 FT (61.5%), 56 Reb (8.0 rpg), 12 Assists (1.7 apg), 16 Steals (2.3 spg)
  • Mykayla Dumas – SR – F
    • 95 Points (11.9 ppg), 34-94 FG (36.2%), 1-17 3FG (5.9%), 26-36 FT (72.2%), 34 Reb (4.3 rpg), 19 Assists (2.4 apg)
• Team Notes:
  • After suffering back-to-back losses to Texas Wesleyan and Science & Arts to open the month of December, UNT-Dallas bounced back with three straight wins with road victories at Oklahoma City and John Brown before coming back with an 86-66 home win against Southwestern Assemblies of God. The Trailblazers did compete in a pair of NCAA Division I exhibition contests at Sam Houston State and Texas State just before the Christmas break.
  • While the Trailblazers are a team prone to giving the ball away, committing the ninth-most turnovers in the SAC at 19.4 per game, UNTD is a strong defensive team that is forcing opposing teams into committing 26.5 giveaways a game.
  • UNTD is led by the top scorer in the Sooner Athletic Conference in Zyunn Cormier, as the junior guard is averaging 22.5 points per game while posting the league's eighth-highest shooting percentage (50.4 percent) and the SAC's second-best three-point shooting clip (43.1).
  • After joining the SAC last season, Mid-America Christian swept its first two meetings against UNT-Dallas. In their matchup inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 3, 2022, MACU posted a 99-74 shootout victory while their Feb. 5 meetup in Waxahachie, Texas was more of a defensive with the Evangels coming away with the 59-42 win.

Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas)

• Record: 4-11 (1-8 SAC)
• Last Game: Won vs. Northern New Mexico – 82-61 – Jan. 2, 2023
• Series vs. MACU (2005-): MACU leads 16-9
• Last Game vs. MACU: MACU won 85-62 – Feb. 14, 2022 – Waxahachie, Texas
• Players to Watch:
  • Rylee Lavender – JR – G
    • 194 Points (12.9 ppg), 62-179 FG (34.6%), 26-95 3FG (27.4%), 44-50 FT (88.0%), 45 Reb (3.0 rpg), 38 Assists (2.5 apg), 21 Steals (1.4 spg)
  • Jazra Williams – SO – F
    • 143 Points (11.0 ppg), 47-114 FG (41.2%), 49-68 FT (72.1%), 83 Reb (6.4 rpg), 14 Assists (1.1 apg), 16 Steals (1.2 spg), 9 Blocks (0.7 bpg)
  • Taylor Moravcik – SO – F
    • 135 Points (9.6 ppg), 50-113 FG (44.2%), 7-20 3FG (35.0%), 28-47 FT (59.6%), 138 Reb (9.9 rpg), 18 Assists (1.3 apg), 12 Steals (0.9 spg)
• Team Notes:
  • Going into its game at Southwestern Christian on Jan. 5, Southwestern Assemblies of God went through a seven-game losing streak from mid-November to mid-December, but the Lady Lions were able to pick up a pair of non-conference wins between the holiday break. SAGU defeated North American University 67-39 on Dec. 13 before bouncing back from an 86-66 loss at UNT-Dallas on Dec. 16 with an 82-61 home win over Northern New Mexico on Jan. 2.
  • SAGU has been a team that has struggled on the defensive end as it ranks second-to-last in the Sooner Athletic Conference in points per game given up at 73.9 while posting only the ninth-best scoring average at 65.1. While the Lady Lions are boasting only the 10^th-best field goal (37.2) and three-point field goal (27.2) percentages, they have been efficient when getting to the foul line, ranking second in the conference at 74.8 percent.
  • Southwestern Assemblies of God's offense runs primarily through junior guard Rylee Lavender, who is both the team's leading scorer at 12.9 ppg and is tied for the team-lead in assists at 2.5 per contest. Another player the Evangels will need to key on is Taylor Moravcik. The SAC's leading rebounder is nearly averaging a double-double per game with a 9.6 ppg scoring average and is yanking down 9.9 boards per contest.
  • Through the 2019-20 season, the series was relatively even, but the Evangels have had some recent success against the Lady Lions by winning the last four meetings. In last season's meetups, MACU came away with a 71-58 win over SAGU inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 1, 2022 before posting an 85-62 win inside the Sheaffer Center on Feb. 14.