Oklahoma City University
at Southern Nazarene

Saturday, Feb. 18
6 p.m. Bethany, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University?s women travel to Sooner Athletic Conference rival Southern Nazarene. The Stars can clinch a share of the conference championship with a win.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU is 24-2, 15-0 in the SAC after a 75-47 win over USAO on Thursday in Abe Lemons Arena. Mariam Sy, a 6-4 senior, led OCU with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Alexandra Kotta and Paty Silva also picked up eight points each.
Sy is averaging 21.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.31 steals a game. Her scoring average is third in NAIA Division I. She also ranks 18th in rebounds and field-goal percentage (54.7). Also, Silva adds 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The Stars rank third in the NAIA in 3-point field-goal percentage (38.5), defensive 3-point percentage (25.9) and field goal percentage (47.4). OCU is fourth in total rebound margin (9.5). All-time, OCU is 21-32 vs. SNU, but won the last matchup 87-51 on Jan. 14. The Stars currently sit at third in NAIA rankings, first in the SAC. In the preseason coaches conference poll, the Stars were picked to finish second in the conference.

ABOUT THE CRIMSON STORM: SNU lost their third consecutive game Thursday night 76-71 at Northwestern. The Crimson Storm dropped to 8-17, 4-11. Fatou Ndaiye, a 6-1 junior, picked up 24 points and five rebounds, but SNU scoring leader Jamie Morgan had only five. Morgan, a 6-foot senior, averages 13.0 points and 4.6 rebounds a game, and also ranks 12th in NAIA Division I shooting 41.4 percent on 3-pointers. The team collectively ranks 19th nationally with 35.1 3-point field-goal shooting percentage. In the preseason coaches conference poll, SNU was picked to finish third in the SAC.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has 334 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.
Lori Carter has a 106-81 record in six seasons as a head coach. She led the Crimson Storm to the 2004 NAIA championship and also was a highly-decorated player for the then-Lady Redskins from 1989-1992. She came to SNU after coaching at St. Gregory?s.

QUOTABLE: ?Kids are getting tired. We?ve been going for six months. At some point you have to catch your second wind a little bit. We?ve had three games where we?ve played really well. I told the kids we?re down to three. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we just got to run towards the light.? ? Edmisson on the length of the season

?I?m looking forward to going there. I?ve heard a lot of great things about the intensity and the emotion and the electricity there. I know SNU is not having one of its best years. We?re going to work hard to go in there and play at a high level of intensity.? ? Edmisson on SNU's Sawyer Center

GIVE THE HOTLINE A CALL: Follow the Stars using the OCU Athletic Hotline at (405) 208-5400 and the Sooner Athletic Conference Hotline at (405) 878-2110. Get the score and highlights after the game on these hotlines.

ON THE AIR: Stars basketball can be heard on the web on okcu.edu/athletics. Joel Roberts is the play-by-play man with analysis from Rich Tortorelli.
There will be a special rebroadcast of Thursday?s game against USAO since the game overlapped with the baseball doubleahder. The tape-delay broadcast starts at 6 p.m. Friday.