OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU women's basketball team will be competing in its third straight NAIA Tournament as the sixth-seeded Evangels will take on No. 11 seed Sterling (Kan.) in a midseason rematch at 8 pm inside Hartman Arena on Tuesday night.

If MACU wins, they'd play the winner of No. 3 seed Montana Western and No. 14 seed Philander Smith (Ark.) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night.
 
MACU SEASON REPORT

• Record: 23-6
• Last Game: Lost vs. Langston (Okla.) – 59-58 – Feb. 23, 2023 – Gaulke Activity Center (SAC Quarterfinal)
• Stat Leaders:
  • Points: Shy Christopher (484, 17.9 ppg), Jaci Littell (426, 16.4 ppg), Whitney Outon (284, 10.5 ppg)
  • FG% (Min. 3 FGM/G): Shy Christopher (48.4%, 178-368), Whitney Outon (46.0%, 103-224), Jaci Littell (39.1%, 124-317)
  • 3FG% (Min. 1 3FGM/G): Aneli Thomsen (40.6%, 26-64), Jaci Littell (40.3%, 64-159), Kyleigh Leverich (40.0%, 36-90)
  • FT% (Min. 2 FTM/G): Jaci Littell (85.1%, 114-134), Alexis Borgstadt (76.8%, 53-69), Shy Christopher (71.8%, 117-163)
  • Reb: Whitney Outon (186, 6.9 rpg), Shy Christopher (148, 5.5 rpg), Sydney Wycoff (128, 4.7 rpg)
  • Assists: Sydney Wycoff (93, 3.4 apg), Kyleigh Leverich (62, 2.3 apg), Shy Christopher (61, 2.3 apg)
  • Steals: Jaci Littell (40, 1.5 spg), Sydney Wycoff (38, 1.4 spg), Tyaija Coleman (29, 1.1 spg)
  • Blocks: Whitney Outon (27, 1.0 bpg), Ashley Hopper (15, 0.6 bpg)
• Team Notes:
  • Mid-America Christian will be competing in the NAIA Tournament for the third straight season while notching the No. 6 seed in back-to-back years. Last season, the Evangels competed in the Wichita, Kansas bracket and pulled out a 76-64 win over Briar Cliff (Iowa) on Mar. 11, 2022 before dropping a hard-fought 84-77 battle against No. 3 seed and 14^th-ranked Clarke (Iowa) in the second round.
  • The Evangels will be competing in the Park City, Kansas for the second time in the last three years. MACU will be making its return to Hartman Arena after the team earned its first ever bid to the NAIA Tournament in 2021. In MACU's first ever NAIA tourney game, the Evangels battled back from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to Columbia (Mo.), closing it to a one-point game on two different occasions over the final 30 seconds on a Lexi Hernandez three and a Ossyana Ozoani layup, but the Cougars were able to put the game away from the free throw line to hold on for the 85-83 win on Mar. 12, 2021.
  • MACU enters the tournament as an at-large selection, finishing the regular season with a 23-6 overall record and posted the second-best record in a stacked Sooner Athletic Conference that saw six teams get selected to compete in the 64-team NAIA Tournament, posting a league record of 17-5.
  • The Evangels will be looking to try and get back to mid-season form heading into the tournament. While MACU boasted a 10-game win streak over the last half of the season which saw MACU win every game by double-digits and beating their opponents by 27.5 points per game, the Evangels hit a bit of a snag late in the season, losing at home to Oklahoma City 81-74 in the regular season finale before dropping a heartbreaking 59-58 defeat to Langston in the SAC Quarterfinal.
  • Mid-America Christian enters the tournament with an excellent regular season resume as the Evangels boast three wins against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25, including an 83-77 victory against No. 16 Sterling on Dec. 31. The Evangels also enter the tourney with a stellar 9-3 record against teams that also qualified for the NAIA Tournament.

SCOUTING REPORT
(11) No. 20 Sterling (Kan.)

• Record: 25-5
• Last Game: Lost vs. Saint Mary (Kan.) – 78-66 – Feb. 25, 2023 – Sterling, Kan. (KCAC Semifinal)
• Series vs MACU (2003-): Sterling leads 4-3
• Last Game vs MACU: MACU won 83-77 – Dec. 31, 2022 – Gaulke Activity Center
• Players to Watch:
  • Karsen Schultz – SR – G
    • 511 Points (17.0 ppg), 193-375 FG (51.5%), 15-38 3FG (39.5%), 110-125 FT (88.0%), 207 Reb (6.9 rpg), 83 Assists (2.8 apg), 59 Steals (2.0 spg)
  • Taya Wilson – SR – F
    • 448 Points (14.9 ppg), 153-309 FG (49.5%), 134-161 FT (83.2%), 283 Reb (9.4 rpg), 65 Assists (2.2 apg), 62 Steals (2.1 spg), 32 Blocks (1.1 bpg)
  • Bailey Albright – SR – G
    • 394 Points (13.6 ppg), 146-312 FG (46.8%), 45-121 3FG (37.2%), 57-82 FT (69.5%), 77 Reb (2.7 rpg), 92 Assists (3.2 apg), 43 Steals (1.5 spg)
• Team Notes:
  • Sterling wrapped up the regular season with a 25-5 record after suffering a though 78-66 home loss to eventual KCAC Tournament Champion Saint Mary (Kan.) on its home court on Feb. 25. The Warriors were the KCAC regular season champions with a league record of 21-1.
  • The Warriors are competing in their fifth straight NAIA tourney after qualifying for every tournament since the 2018-19 season. Sterling posted a 1-2 record against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25 this season, getting a 95-85 win over No. 3 Morningside (Iowa) and dropping 75-64 at No. 9 Central Methodist (Mo.) before falling to the 25^th-ranked Evangels on New Year's Eve.
  • Sterling is led by the KCAC Player of the Year Taya Wilson and the KCAC Newcomer of the Year Karsen Schultz. Wilson nearly averaged a double-double with 14.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game while also turning in a stellar floor game with 2.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. An NCAA Division II transfer from Emporia State, led the team in scoring at 17.0 ppg on a 51.5 percent shooting clip while also converting 88.0 percent of her free throw tries.
  • Even though Sterling leads the all-time series, Mid-America Christian has won the last three meetings between the two squads. In their last meeting back inside the Gaulke Activity Center on New Year's Eve, Shy Christopher paced the Evangels with a stellar 26-point performance on 10-of-15 shooting to go with five assists, four steals and two steals. In the contest, MACU led by as much as 18 with 4:17 to go in the fourth quarter before Sterling made a late push to close it to a six-point game.