Oklahoma City University
in Holiday Inn Christmas Bash

Thursday, Dec. 29
8 p.m. vs. Mesa State (Colo.)
Friday, Dec. 30
4 p.m. vs. California Baptist

THE MATCHUPS: Oklahoma City University?s women travel to Grand Junction, Colo., to play in the Holiday Inn Christmas Bash hosted by Mesa State (Colo.). The Stars play Mesa State and California Baptist.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU is 7-2 and coming off a 97-57 exhibition win over Redlands Community College on Dec. 11. Freshmen Chelsea Ledbetter and Haley Workman led the Stars. Ledbetter scored 20 points, while Workman had 19. Ledbetter also had a team-high nine rebounds.
Mariam Sy, a 6-foot-4 senior from Mali, West Africa, scores 24.6 points per game to go with 9.4 rebounds and 3.11 steals a game. Sy is ninth in NAIA Division I in scoring, 13th in rebounds and steals per game and 17th in field-goal percentage (56.1 percent). Paty Silva adds 12.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.56 steals per game. The Stars are ranked ninth.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Mesa State, a member of NCAA Division II, is 3-5. Mesa State fell to 2-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a 79-63 road loss to Nebraska-Kearney on Dec. 17. Brittany Fowler scored 18 points for Mesa State. Fowler, a 5-8 sophomore, averages 15.1 points, 3.0 assists and 2.13 steals a game.
California Baptist is ranked 20th in NAIA Division I. California Baptist last played Dec. 17 and beat Montreat (N.C.) 80-61 in Riverside, Calif. Vanessa Wilt, a 6-1 sophomore, had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Cal Baptist. The Lancers are now 8-2 and have won five consecutive games. Nicole Davis, a 5-8 freshman, paces California Baptist with 17.7 points and 6.3 assists a game.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has 317 victories in 16 seasons as a head coach. Edmisson, a graduate of Bethany (Kan.), came to OCU after a stint as an assistant at Oklahoma State. He won 200 games at Hutchinson (Kan.) and 110 as a high-school coach in Kansas.
Timi Brown is in her second season as Mesa State head coach. Brown has a 66-54 record in five seasons. Mesa State went 11-16 last season and Odessa College (Texas) went 52-33 in three seasons under Brown. Steve Sain is in his second season at California Baptist. Sain had previous stints at Bethany (Calif.) and Simpson (Calif.). Sain, who has a career record of 95-129 in eight seasons, led Bethany to an 18-10 mark in 2000-01.

QUOTABLE: ?We?ve had to change practice and make almost every drill a competitive drill where if you win, you do this, if you lose, you run. Our kids like to compete and have consequences to it.? ? Edmisson on holiday practices

MEDIA GUIDES AVAILABLE: OCU basketball media guides are available to fans for $3 at the games, $5 if ordering by mail. For information, e-mail Rich Tortorelli at rtortorelli@okcu.edu.