AUSTIN, Texas (Dec. 18, 2015) – It's been awhile since Oklahoma Christian's basketball teams have anticipated the start of conference play this much.

After three years in limbo as the university navigated through the NCAA Division II membership process, the Lady Eagles and Eagles now are fully eligible to compete for both regular-season and postseason Heartland Conference titles. The first step toward those goals will be Saturday, when OC will visit St. Edward's (Texas) for a doubleheader.

The Lady Eagles will tip off against the Hilltoppers at 1 p.m., with the men's game to follow in the Recreation and Convocation Center on the St. Edward's campus.

OC's women went 3-7 against a challenging nonconference schedule that included five games against teams that either have been or currently are ranked in a regional top 10.

The Lady Eagles set a program single-game scoring record in a 123-76 win over St. Gregory's – the highest-scoring game this season by a Division II team. OC's McKenzie Stanford also has won the Heartland player-of-the-week award both of the past two weeks.

The Eagles went 3-5 in nonconference play and have one of the league's top players in junior center John Moon, who ranks second in the Heartland in scoring (22.5 points per game) and first in rebounding (9.4 per game) and blocked shots (2.6 per game).

St. Edward's opened conference play Thursday, with the Hilltoppers' women's and men's teams sweeping a doubleheader from visiting Newman (Kan.). The women's team is 3-6 and had lost five straight games before beating Newman, while the men's team is 8-1 and ranked seventh in Division II's South Central Region.