Waxahachie, Texas- October 25, 2015- It is a new era for the Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) women’s basketball team. For the first time in 10 years, the SAGU Lady Lions are under new leadership in head coach Tiffany Phillips .
“The style will be different than what people are used to. We want to push the tempo of the game and play tough man to man defense,” explains Phillips, “There are a lot of new rule changes to the women’s game to try and speed it up and make it more exciting for the fans and players.”
The Lady Lions will return three starters from the 2014-2015 season, where they went 15-20. Senior guard Taylor Hill , junior forward Laken Ward and junior Charity Page will all be returning for SAGU.
Hill was SAGU’s leading scorer last season, averaging 13 points per game. “Taylor is a tremendous leader and basketball player. She is a very special player and I expect a lot from her, on and off the floor,” says Phillips. Hill also averaged three assists per game.
Ward played as an undersized post player last season. She averaged over six rebounds per game. This season, Phillips expects Ward to surprise a few people, “She has worked hard this summer to develop an outside shot that I think will give teams some matchup problems.” 
“Charity can be a force inside. She is strong and continues to get better each practice. She has developed some great post moves and is athletic enough to beat people off the dribble,” says Phillips.
Phillips does acknowledge that with a new system, finding the players who fit will be top priority, “These players are all committed to my philosophy and have worked hard to prove themselves this summer and in the offseason.”
Phillips has brought in four freshman and two transfers. Two of those new recruits are the Enabulele sisters. Zengy is a junior transfer from Jacksonville College and YaYa comes from Jarvis Christian College. “Zengy has potential to be a great player for us. She has the ability to score from almost any position on the court and is physically very strong. Her sister, YaYa, can shoot and run the point. She is a very talented player that I see coming off the bench and helping us.”
The Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) released the pre-season coach’s poll and SAGU was picked to finish 8 th in the conference. Phillips agrees that this group has a lot to prove, “I can say that I feel like we are much better than 8 th place but we have to go out there and prove it every night. This is a very tough conference and we like the challenge. Good things will happen for this group.”
The Lady Lions will kick-off the season on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 when they host Wiley College at 6:00pm. The Lions have a full week of play as they will also compete on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All games in their opening week will be played at home.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
Contact: Natalie Tristan, SAGU SID, [email protected]
