OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off winning its second straight Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament title, Wayland Baptist was selected by the league’s coaches as the favorite to win the conference title again on Thursday.
Voted upon by the 12 head coaches in the conference, Wayland Baptist earned 118 points and garnered nine first-place tallies after the team went 13-1 in 2020-21 and earned a share of the SAC regular-season title with an 8-0 league mark before defeating Langston 71-63 in the SAC tournament championship game on March 1. The Flying Queens will be led by a pair of All-SAC first team honorees in Jenna Cooper and the SAC player of the year in Kaylee Edgemon.
Science & Arts followed WBU in the poll with 106 points and garnered two first-place votes. The Drovers last season finished the campaign with a 14-4 overall record, including going 10-1 in SAC play. Looking to lead USAO once again will be the 2020-21 SAC newcomer of the year Zaria Dorsey along with another All-SAC honoree in third teamer Milagros Carreira.
Oklahoma City came in third in the poll with 99 points, just barely edging out the 2020-21 SAC co-champion Mid-America Christian by one point. The Stars, the 2019-20 SAC regular season champ finished the heavily impacted COVID-19 campaign with a 5-1 record and will be led by the 2019-20 SAC player of the year in Abby Selzer along with All-SAC third team honoree Erika Ankney.
Notching 98 points and receiving a first-place vote, the Evangels are coming off one of their best seasons in program history. MACU closed out the 2020-21 campaign a 9-3 overall record as the team earned its first ever share of the SAC crown with a 6-0 league mark. The Evangels also advanced to the program’s first ever NAIA National Championship Opening Round. Guiding MACU will be a pair of All-SAC honorees from a season ago in first team recipient Lexi Hernandez and second team honoree Presley Payahsape.
The fifth-place spot was also tightly contested as Southwestern Christian, a team that features All-SAC first teamer Thaimires Andrade, received 72 points to edge out Langston, led by All-SAC second team recipient Asheika Alexander with 71 points. Last season, the Lions went on a powerful run through the SAC Tournament, stunning both Mid-America Christian and Science & Arts before falling in a tightly contested SAC title game to earn a bid to the NAIA tourney.
John Brown nabbed 66 points in the poll to grab the seven-spot, while Oklahoma Panhandle State and Texas Wesleyan rounded out the top eight spots with both programs equally receiving 45 points.
Southwestern Assemblies of God turned in 34 points to come in 10th, while SAC newcomer UNT Dallas, competing in its first year as a full-time member after serving as an associate member last season, came in 11th with 23 points. Central Christian rounded out the poll with a total of 15 points.
The 2022 SAC Tournament will begin on Feb. 24 with the quarterfinal round taking place at the sites of the top four seeds. The semifinal and championship rounds will be played at the Gaulke Activity Center on the campus of Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City from Feb. 28-March 1.
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2021-22 Sooner Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Poll
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|
No.
|
Team
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
Pts.
|
|
1.
|
Wayland Baptist
|
9
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
118
|
|
2.
|
Science & Arts
|
2
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
106
|
|
3.
|
Oklahoma City
|
|
4
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
99
|
|
4.
|
Mid-America Christian
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
98
|
|
5.
|
SW Christian
|
|
|
|
3
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
72
|
|
6.
|
Langston
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
5
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
71
|
|
7.
|
John Brown
|
|
|
|
1
|
4
|
2
|
3
|
|
1
|
|
|
66
|
|
T8.
|
Panhandle State
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
3
|
|
1
|
45
|
|
T8.
|
Texas Wesleyan
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
|
45
|
|
10.
|
SW Assemblies of God
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
|
34
|
|
11.
|
North Texas Dallas
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
23
|
|
12.
|
Central Christian
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
7
|
15
|