Pioneers, Flying Queens expect tough SAC Tournaments

SAC Men's Tournament   SAC Women's Tournament
Both Matt Garnett and Alesha Robertson-Ellis know the next three days won't be easy ones for their Wayland Baptist basketball teams. The Pioneers and Flying Queens are in Oklahoma City for the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, and the Wayland coaches fully expect three days of heated competition.
 
"This tournament is going to be as good of a tournament as the conference has had in several years," Garnett predicted. "The depth is so good in the league this year that we're going to have to do things right, especially on the defensive end, and play with a great deal of resiliency to try to survive and advance. That will be the motto for anybody who's able to have some success this weekend."
 
According to Robertson-Ellis, being in such a tough conference should be to the Flying Queens' advantage as they, like the Pioneers, seek to return to the NAIA National Tournament, either by winning the conference tournament title or through an at-large berth. While the No. 13 Pioneers (24-5) are considered a lock for no worse than an at-large spot awarded to non-conference tournament winners, the No. 20 Flying Queens (18-10) seem to be on the proverbial bubble for an at-large invitation, although Robertson-Ellis is confident about her team's chances to make it to Independence, Mo.
 
"We're in a pretty good position right now," she said. "We finished third in a very good conference, and being in such a tough conference helps us to get into the national tournament and get a lot of respect. Hanging with those (ranked) teams and beating some ranked teams, like (Texas) Wesleyan, helps.
 
"We have to make sure we take care of business and try to get at least two wins. That will get us to 20 wins and that will help us get in the big tournament. If we can win the conference tournament then we'll for sure go to nationals, so that's the best thing we can possibly do."
 
Both Wayland teams are No. 3 seeds in their respective 10-team brackets. The Flying Queens play sixth-seeded USAO (10-16) at 9 a.m. Thursday while the Pioneers (24-5) go up against sixth-seeded John Brown (16-14) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
 
Live streaming and live stats will be available for all tournament games from OCU's Abe Lemons Arena, and Wayland games will be broadcast locally on KKYN (106.9 FM).
 
The Flying Queens defeated USAO this season by scores of 90-53 and 71-58. Despite those relatively easy victories, Robertson-Ellis is taking nothing for granted.
 
"We have to keep our girls' heads on straight and play like we know how to," she said. "It's going to be a tough game no matter who we play that first round. I feel like that first round is very important to win."
 
If they do win, the Flying Queens will advance into a semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday against the winner between second-seeded, sixth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist (23-4) and either seventh-seeded Texas Wesleyan (15-15) or 10^th-seeded St. Gregory's (4-23).
 
The women's championship game is at 1 p.m. Saturday.
 
Robertson-Ellis said she "feels good" about her team heading into the post-season.
 
"Two games ago (in a 79-66 loss to OBU) I don't think we played our best, but we responded well (in an 85-67 win over Mid-America Christian to end the regular-season)," she said. "I feel like these girls are mentally prepared. They've decided to be mentally and physical tough, and when you have a team that's willing to do what it takes to win ballgames, you feel much better going into the post-season.

As for the Pioneers, Garnett has preached all season about taking it one game at a time, and that won't change now that the postseason is starting. In fact, the coach is breaking it down even further and encouraging his team to take it one possession at a time.
 
"We're focusing really hard this week on getting better and being ready to go play. We worked very hard (Monday) to get better at what we do," Garnett said. "I think there are a lot of teams that go into tournaments and big games thinking about winning. That's fool's gold. We really want to think about playing every possession."
 
The Pioneers swept John Brown this season, winning at home, 82-64, and in Siloam Springs, Ark., 82-71.

"We know over the course of the tournament, if we're fortunate enough to play a couple of rounds, then you're going to play really good teams – from the first game right out of the box," Garnett said. "There's not a team in our league that you feel like you can beat unless you're really good."
 
If the Pioneers defeat the Golden Eagles for a third time this season, they'll move on to Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal against either second-seeded OCU (17-7) or the Oklahoma Baptist (19-11, 8-10)-Southwestern Christian (7-19, 3-15) winner. WBU and OCU actually tied for the runner-up spot behind Mid-America Christian, but the tournament host Stars were awarded the higher seed due to a tie-breaker process involving results against the highest-seeded teams. Wayland and OCU, which split their head-to-head meetings, had similar results against No. 1 MACU and No. 4 Southwestern Assemblies of God, but OCU swept No. 5 St. Gregory's while Wayland split with the Cavaliers

The men's championship game is at 4 p.m. Saturday.
 

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	2014-15 RECORD	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Talladega (Ala.) (10)	26-3	250
2	T4	Hope International (Calif.)	26-2	237
3	T4	Cal State San Marcos	26-3	235
4	2	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	25-3	226
5	6	Dalton State (Ga.)	26-3	217
6	3	Pikeville (Ky.)	25-4	215
T7	8	Concordia (Calif.)	24-6	197
T7	9	Campbellsville (Ky.)	25-5	197
9	10	Martin Methodist (Tenn.)	25-4	182
10	15	LSU Alexandria	21-3	167
11	7	Georgetown (Ky.)	24-6	165
12	13	Columbia (Mo.)	25-5	160
13	14	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	24-5	154
14	12	Mid-America Christian (Okla.)	21-9	148
15	11	Montana Western	21-8	143
16	19	Benedictine (Kan.)	23-7	130
17	17	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	23-4	129
18	21	Xavier (La.)	22-8	109
19	18	Arizona Christian	23-7	106
20	22	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	23-7	95
21	20	Westmont (Calif.)	20-9	90
22	16	Evangel (Mo.)	18-11	84
23	23	Oklahoma City	16-7	77
24	24	SAGU (Texas)	21-9	52
25	RV	LSU Shreveport (La.)	21-9	39

Others Receiving Votes: Bethel (Tenn.) 38; Cumberlands (Ky.) 37; Wiley (Texas) 36; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 31; Philander Smith (Ark.) 20; Missouri Valley 17; Faulkner (Ala.) 15.
 

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	2014-15 Record	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) (10)	29-1	250
2	2	Oklahoma City	21-2	241
3	4	Campbellsville (Ky.)	27-2	231
4	3	Westminster (Utah)	23-2	228
5	5	Bethel (Tenn.)	28-2	220
6	7	Oklahoma Baptist	22-4	209
T7	9	Vanguard (Calif.)	20-6	194
T7	6	Concordia (Calif.)	21-5	194
9	8	Loyola (La.)	24-3	187
T10	10	Montana State-Northern	26-4	173
T10	11	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	25-5	173
12	12	MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)	24-5	164
13	13	Langston (Okla.)	25-3	155
14	14	Wiley (Texas)	22-3	146
15	15	Westmont (Calif.)	24-5	142
16	17	Lyon (Ark.)	25-5	129
17	18	The Master's (Calif.)	21-8	120
18	16	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	21-8	107
19	19	Shawnee State (Ohio)	21-9	100
20	20	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	18-10	96
21	21	Carroll (Mont.)	18-9	95
T22	25	Benedictine (Kan.)	22-8	74
T22	22	Pikeville (Ky.)	23-7	74
24	23	Great Falls (Mont.)	21-8	62
25	23	Martin Methodist (Tenn.)	24-6	52

Others receiving votes: Baker (Kan.) 44; Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 41; William Woods (Mo.) 31; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 26; Cumberland (Tenn.) 18; Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 10; LSU Shreveport (La.) 8.