OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off another sensational season where the Evangels qualified for their third straight NAIA National Championship Tournament, the MACU women's basketball team will enter the 2023-24 season as the Sooner Athletic Conference preseason favorite.
In the SAC preseason poll voted upon by the league's 12 head coaches, the Evangels received 113 points and eight first-place votes, finishing nine points ahead of rival Science & Arts, who garnered one of the first place tallies.
Wayland Baptist came in third in the poll with 95 points while John Brown finished right behind in fourth with 91 tallies and a pair of first-place nods. 2022-23 SAC Champion Texas Wesleyan was selected fifth with 78 points while Langston rounded out the top half of the league with a sixth place mark of 75 points.
Last season, the Evangels finished second in the Sooner standings with a 17-5 league mark and turned in a 23-7 overall record. Mid-America Christian has finished in the top two spots in the conference standings the past three seasons, sharing the SAC regular season title with Wayland Baptist during the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season with a 6-0 mark (9-2 overall) and put together its winningest season in program history in 2021-22, finishing the year with a 28-5 overall record and a 19-3 tab in league play.
Mid-America Christian brings back some of the top talent in the league from a year ago, headlined by junior guard Shy Christopher. The SAC Newcomer of the Year and All-SAC First Team performer last season was a dynamic scoring threat for MACU, notching the fifth-most points (508) and the fifth-best scoring average (18.1 ppg) in the conference while shooting a blistering 49.1 percent from the field. The Jacksonville, Arkansas product also finished fifth in the conference in made free throws at 117 conversions on a 70.9 percent rate.
Also in her second season with the program, senior guard Jaci Calavan (Littell) was an All-SAC Second Team performer last season, scoring the ninth-most points (437) on a 39.2 percent shooting clip. Calavan's prowess from the three-point arc and free throw line was nearly unparalleled, as the Stillwater, Oklahoma native converted the fourth-most threes (65) on the fourth-best percentage (39.2) in the conference while shooting the second-best free throw percentage (85.1) and made the sixth-most foul shots (114).
Even though the Evangels graduated four very talented seniors from last season's squad, MACU does bring back some key contributors in junior guard/forward Alexis Borgstadt, senior guard Hallie Reed, sophomore guard/forward Ainsley Velasquez, sophomore forward Ashley Hopper and junior forward Sydney Savage.
Mid-America Christian brings in a stellar recruiting class with five newcomers that will all make an impact either starting or coming off the bench for the Evangels this season.
NCAA Division II Emporia State (Kan.) transfer sophomore guard Kylee Scheer is expecting to make a major splash. Coming from a powerhouse Hornets program, Scheer saw action in 25 games and made two starts with ESU in 2022-23, scoring 3.2 ppg while also dishing 19 assists and tallying 17 steals in just her freshman campaign.
The Evangels also bring in two more NCAA Division II standouts in Cameron (Okla.) transfer graduate student forward Karley Miller and Oklahoma Baptist junior guard Kayla Highfill.
Miller brings a wellspring of experience to the Evangels, seeing action in 98 games and making 44 starts with the Aggies, 24 of which coming during the 2022-23 season. The 5-11 post player is especially a tenacious defender in the paint, rejecting 21 shots a season ago.
Highfill provided a spark of the Bison bench during her sophomore season, seeing action in 25 games and scoring 3.2 ppg on a highly efficient 50 percent shooting clip, including 38.1 percent from the three-point arc and 79.2 percent from the charity stripe.
MACU's two highly decorated incoming freshmen point guards Mia Smith and Sydney Adee are also expecting to make a splash for the Evangels in the backcourt for their inaugural seasons. Smith joins her former Little Rock Christian Academy teammate Hopper, earning Arkansas All-State honors last season while Adee is a Panhandle High School product that garnered Texas Girls Coaches Association All-State honors this past year.
Mid-America Christian will officially begin the 2022-23 campaign on Friday, Nov. 3 as the Evangels will host Dallas Christian for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
