Women's Basketball 1/6/2014 11:12:00 PM

Stars upend Northwood 89-59

OCU outscores Northwood 50-18 inside, move to 3-0 in SAC play

Ouleymatou Coulibaly notched a double-double against Northwood.

Box Score
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University smacked Northwood (Texas) 89-59 Monday at Abe Lemons Arena.
The Stars, ranked No. 2 in NAIA Division I women's basketball, scored 29 points off turnovers and outscored the Knights 50-18 in the paint on the night to pick up the win and improve to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
"I thought our first half was better than our second half," OCU coach Latricia Trammell said. "It was good to see how we turned our defense into offense. We have been preaching that for two weeks. We take pride in that."
After a sluggish start for the Stars, Autumn Huffman forced a turnover and scored in the paint to tie the game at 20-20 with eight minutes and 50 second remaining in the first half. Ouleymatou Coulibaly followed with a layup off an offensive rebound and gave OCU its first lead of the game.
From that point, the Stars embarked on a 17-0 run and ballooned its lead to 34-20 at the 3:08 mark. Kayla MacKenzie fueled the run with seven points while the Stars' defense forced six turnovers.
MacKenzie and Albany Anderson notched back-to-back buckets to end the half and hand OCU a commanding 39-23 lead at the break.
OCU scored 17 points off 15 Northwood turnovers and held the Knights to 25 percent shooting from the field in the first half. The Stars outscored Northwood 26-4 in the paint in the period.
The Stars opened the second half with a 12-0 run and stretched their lead to 51-23 at the 17:00 mark of the second half. Huffman scored six points during the run.
Coulibaly, Huffman and Cara Pugh led the Stars' charge in the second frame with 14 points apiece while OCU shot 60 percent from the floor in the period. The Stars led by as many as 38 in the half and coasted to the 89-59 victory.
"Our defense was better than our previous game," Trammell said. "Our chemistry isn't there yet, but we're working on it."
OCU finished the game with 23 second change points and 18 fastbreak points. The Stars' defense forced 25 turnovers and held Northwood to 32 percent shooting from the floor on the night.
Coulibaly and Huffman led all scorers with 20 points each. Coulibaly grabbed 12 rebounds while Huffman corralled eight boards and snared four steal.
Pugh followed with 14 points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. MacKenzie pitched in with 12 points and six rebounds and Yvonte Neal added nine points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals.
OCU will return to action against No. 17 John Brown (Ark.) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.

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