Women's Basketball 12/14/2020 1:00:00 PM

Electric Returners, Fresh Faces Ignite Spirit in Postseason Quest

OUAZ SPIRIT (0-0) at ARIZONA CHRISTIAN FIRESTORM (3-1)
Game Details	Tuesday, December 15 • 6 p.m. (Arizona) • Glendale, Ariz. • ACU Events Center
Video Stream	OUAZ Digital Network (Produced by ACU)
OTT App	NAIA Network (Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV & Roku)
Live Stats	ouazspirit.com/sidearmstats/wbball

After months of uncertainty, speculation and schedule changes, the 2020-2021 season is finally upon the OUAZ women's basketball team. The Spirit tip-off the year by traveling to crosstown rival Arizona Christian for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday.

January 2 marked a historic evening for the women's basketball program, as the Spirit rewrote the record book in a 93-88 win over Arizona Christian. Then-freshman Natasa Radovic scored the second-most points in a single game with 38, as well as tying the single-game record for rebounds in a game with 18. It was the first, and to this date, only time the Spirit have come out on top over the Firestorm.

The Spirit have been dominant over its non-conference opponents, as OUAZ posted a 7-1 record outside of the conference in 2019-2020. In the last two season, OUAZ has a 13-2 record against non-GSAC opponents. Home court has been defended well outside of the GSAC, as the Spirit have won four straight home non-conference games, and 10 of its last 11 such matchups.

Even though a schedule has not been made for GSAC competition, the conference will be a great challenge for the young OUAZ squad. Three of the top ten teams in the country reside in the GSAC (#1 Westmont, #5 The Master's, #10 Vanguard), and six of the ten member schools finished with a .500 or better conference record. Last year, the Spirit picked up season sweeps over San Diego Christian and Life Pacific, as well as a record-breaking victory over ACU two days into 2020.

STAR SOPHOMORE
Sophomore guard Natasa Radovic took the conference, and the country, by storm during her freshman year. In her inaugural collegiate season, Radovic raked in the awards, accolades and records. Her accomplishments include:

Earning an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, the only freshman to earn a spot in the All-American list.
Named to the GSAC All-Conference team.
Named NCCAA West Region Player of the Year.
First player to earn NAIA National Player of the Week (December 30-January 5).
First player in program history to average a double-double (17.4 points, 10.1 rebounds), and finishing top five in the conference in both categories.
Finished top 20 in the NAIA in: free throw percentage (89.2%, third), rebounds per game (10.1, 11th), offensive rebounds per game (3.8, 15th) and defensive rebounds per game (6.3, 19th).

MICKEY'S SEEING DOUBLE
Senior forward Mickey Freeman did not put on an OUAZ uniform before the 2020 portion of the season last winter. It was not hard to see why the coaching staff was so eager to get her out on the court, as she immediately made a difference for the Spirit on both ends of the floor.

Freeman posted her first double-double of the season on January 25th at Menlo, a 15-point, 14-rebound performance. That started a streak of four consecutive double-digit point games, and she finished the year scoring 10+ in nine of the final ten games. She finished the season by scoring 20+ in the final four games of the year, pushing her points-per-game average up nearly four points with those four performances. She also finished with three double-doubles in the last four games of the 19-20 campaign.

JUCO INFUSION
Last season, the Spirit had seven players with junior college experience on the roster. Junior college talent has always been a part of the program, and this season is no different.
There are five players on this year's team that come from the JUCO ranks, and they will play a vital role. The biggest edition from a two-year school is guard Ana Martinez.

Martinez comes over from Tohono O'odham Community College in the Arizona Community College Athletics Conference (ACCAC). She averaged 14.6 points per game and her 34.8% shooting from three was good for fourth-best in the ACCAC. Martinez also posted eight games of 20 or more points for the Jegos during the 2019-2020 season.

"She is a knockdown shooter," OUAZ interem head coach Deon Thomas said. "She doesn't need much time to get her shot off. She's crafty for her size…she can get to the rim, get her shot off and she can make really good passes inside-out."

Martinez's Tohono O'odham teammate Lina Al-Yousef made her way to Surprise as well, a player that can work inside as well as ball on the perimeter. Al-Yousef played important minutes for the Jegos, and she will be asked to do the same for OUAZ this season.

"She's physical," Thomas said of Al-Yousef. "She likes to bang in the block, she sets good screens, she rolls hard, she can rebound."

Jada Golding is the third new player from junior college, coming from the ACCAC by way of Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Golding is a playmaker who has a skill set that can be rare, especially at the college level.

"Jada is like a Mike Bibby," Thomas said. "She wants to throw those no-look, behind-the-back passes. She has a flair to her game that's unmatched by anyone else."

Not only will the junior college transfers help in the stat sheet, they will help the freshmen as well. There are only five returners who played significant minutes last season, and 12 of the newcomers are freshmen. The junior college transfers new to OUAZ can help the freshmen understand what the college game is like.

"The freshmen need someone to look up to," Thomas said. "Obviously we have [Freeman] and Logan [Koski], but we have 12 Freshmen and two returning post players. We need someone for them to against."

FRESH FACES
Each of the 12 freshmen will be asked to play important roles as the Spirit chase its first appearance in the GSAC conference tournament. The infusion of new talent, including those who are planning to stay for the next four years, will be the building block to a stable and successful program.

Landyn Lovelady will be the starting point guard for Thursday, according to Thomas. Lovelady comes from Gilbert Christian High School, and grew up around the sport of basketball throughout her entire life.

"She's a coach's kid, so she speaks the game really well," Thomas said. "She knows what she's supposed to do. She's been a leader, she was a captain her sophomore year of high school."

Thomas also revealed freshman Sedona Anderson will start at power forward on Thursday, but Anderson has a skill set that will see her play from many different spots as the season progresses.

"She's a shooter," Thomas said. "She's one of those position-less kids. She's about 5'9", 5'10", she can play the one, the two, or the three."

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Players Mentioned

#23 Natasa Radovic: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#13 Landyn Lovelady: G; 5' 8"; Freshman

#14 Ana Martinez: G; 5' 1"; Junior

#12 Jada Golding: G; 5' 5"; Junior

#33 Sedona Anderson: G; 5' 7"; Freshman

#3 Lina Al-Yousef: F; 6' 0"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#23 Natasa Radovic
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#13 Landyn Lovelady
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: G

#14 Ana Martinez
: 5' 1"; Junior
: G

#12 Jada Golding
: 5' 5"; Junior
: G

#33 Sedona Anderson
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: G

#3 Lina Al-Yousef
: 6' 0"; Junior
: F