Oklahoma City – The stage is set to crown a new champion as Mid-America Christian and College of the Ozarks advanced to the championship game of the 2026 Sooner Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Athletic Solutions. Each team will be vying for its first-ever conference tournament championship crown in a game set to begin on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City.
 
No. 4 College of the Ozarks 71, No. 8 Texas Wesleyan 54
 
College of the Ozarks overcame a 10-point deficit at the half on the power of nearly 50-percent shooting from the field in the second half to advance to the title game with a 71-54 victory over upstart Texas Wesleyan in the first semifinal of the evening. This will be the Bobcats’ first trip to the conference title contest since joining the league.
 
The Rams jumped out to an early 17-15 lead after the first stanza and shot 60-percent from the field in the second quarter to extend their advantage to 39-29 at the break. College of the Ozarks then used the hot shooting to chip away at the lead until Keara Mattingley hit a pair of free throws to even the game at 47-47 with 2:48 remaining in the period. The Bobcats then, from that point, outscored the Rams 24-7 to secure the victory.
 
Mattingley led the Bobcat attack with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Logan Jones chipped in with 10 points and three assists as College of the Ozarks improved to 21-9 on the season. Kameryn Phillips paced the Rams with 11 points and seven rebounds while Sophia Hurtado had nine points and eight caroms as Texas Wesleyan ended the season with an overall mark of 14-16.
 
No. 2 Mid-America Christian 67, No. 3 Nelson 64
 
Mid-America Christian fought off a late-game rally by Nelson and sealed the win as Talayah Thomas put the Evangels ahead for good with 24 seconds remaining in the game, as MACU defeated Nelson 67-64 in the second semifinal of the evening.
 
After the Lions scored the first five points of the game, the Evangels raced out to a 9-0 run to grab a 9-5 lead with 7:18 remaining in the first quarter. Nelson drew the contest even at 9-9 on a Kate Miller field goal but answered by outscoring the Lions 12-6 over the final minutes of the quarter to take a 21-15 lead. Mid-America Christian expanded the lead in the second stanza by shooting 40 percent from the field to take a 38-30 advantage into the halftime break.
 
Nelson continued to cut into the MACU lead in the third quarter as they outscored the Evangels 21-17 to make the score 55-51 with 10 minutes remaining in the contest. The Lions shot 44.4 percent from the field in the third quarter to aid them in the comeback. The two teams battled in the final stanza until Allyssa O’Malley hit a jumper with 2:50 remaining in the game to even the contest at 59-59. The teams would tie again at 61-61 until Presley Wheeler drained a triple with 34 seconds left to give Nelson a 64-61 advantage. Caitlynn Jordan put the Evangels within a point with 27 seconds, and Thomas put MACU ahead just three seconds later after she scored off a steal to give the Evangels a 65-64 lead. Thomas secured the win with a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left.
 
Thomas finished the evening with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Sincere Roberts poured in 16 markers and eight caroms as the Evangels improved to 24-6 on the year. Lauryn Scalice led the way for the Lions with 18 points while Paris Miller poured in 11 points as Nelson fell to 22-6.
 
The two teams split their two meetings during the regular season as the Bobcats won the first meeting of the year 83-85, while the Evangels won the second meeting 82-76.