RICHARDSON, Texas (Oct. 30, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian finished 12th in the preseason Lone Star Conference women's basketball poll, released Wednesday as part of the league's virtual Media Day.
OC finished 12-16 last season and in seventh place in the Heartland Conference and returns the Heartland's second-leading scorer in junior forward
Katie Mayo. Seven of the nine Heartland teams are new members of the LSC for the 2019-20 season.
Stephanie Findley, who has more career wins (623) than any women's basketball coach in Oklahoma history, is ready to start her 35th season at the helm of the OC program. She said "it's a little bit of an unknown" for her team as it enters the LSC.
"We've played some teams recently from the Lone Star Conference, preparing for this (move), knowing that it could happen," Findley said. "We've tried to schedule some of them to see where we stand. But every year is a different year and we're excited to come into this year. We're looking forward to it and we are ready to go full speed."
The new-look LSC will have 18 women's teams, split into three six-team divisions. OC's division will include in-state rival Cameron along with Midwestern State (Texas), Arkansas-Fort Smith, Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas-Tyler. UAFS, like OC, is moving into the LSC from the Heartland, while Texas-Tyler is making the jump from NCAA Division III into Division II this season.
LSC teams will play a home-and-home schedule against their five divisional opponents and a single game against the remaining 12 conference teams.
The LSC division champions will be determined by regular-season games within the division, while the postseason tournament winner will be named the LSC champion and earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Twelve teams will qualify for the postseason tournament, with opening-round games at campus sites and the final eight teams advancing to play at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
Coaches and sports information directors from LSC schools joined media in voting in the preseason poll, in which seven teams received at least one first-place vote. Not surprisingly, defending NCAA Division II champion Lubbock Christian (Texas) topped the poll, receiving 33 first-place votes and 813 points.
West Texas A&M, last season's LSC co-champ, was second with 14 first-place votes and 787 points, followed by the other returning co-champ, Angelo State (Texas), with one first-place vote and 733 points.
Among OC's division members, Texas A&M-Commerce was fourth with two first-place votes and 667 points, Midwestern State was eighth with 456 points, UAFS 11th with one first-place vote and 339 points, OC 12th with 301 points, Cameron 14th with 284 points and Texas-Tyler 17th with 171 points.
OC will host York (Neb.) in the annual homecoming exhibition contest on Saturday and will play a second exhibition game next Tuesday at Mid-America Christian. The Eagles will open the regular season Nov. 16 at Southeastern Oklahoma State in Durant.
OC video for LSC Media Day:
https://youtu.be/Q-gOh8F2FMA
