7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4
C. Felton Gayles Fieldhouse in Langston, Okla.
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University opens the new season against top 25-ranked Langston.
ABOUT THE STARS: OCU comes off a banner season in 2009-10. The Stars went 32-4 and reached the NAIA Division I Tournament semifinals. OCU went 22-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, captured a share of the regular-season league championship and won the SAC Tournament crown. Eventual national champion Union (Tenn.) ended OCU's season on March 22.
Donica Cosby, a 5-foot-8 senior from Coldwater, Miss., returns to spearhead the Stars. Cosby led OCU with 13.9 points, 4.0 assists and 2.03 steals a game. She picked up first-team all-American honors and SAC newcomer of the year.
Starr Fairbanks, a 6-2 senior from Cincinnati, came up with 13.5 points and 4.7 rebounds a game. She led the SAC with a 58.4 percent field-goal percentage. Fairbanks garnered honorable-mention all-American acclaim as well as second-team all-SAC last season.
The Stars were ranked third in the preseason national rankings. SAC coaches placed OCU as the heavy favorite to win the league title. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 11 times.
OCU has gone 24-1 against Langston over the years. The Stars won 82-73 over Langston on Nov. 7, 2009 at Abe Lemons Arena.
ABOUT THE LADY LIONS: Langston went 26-8, reaching the first round of the NAIA Division I Tournament in 2009-10. Langston compiled a 19-1 record in Red River Athletic Conference play and captured the league tournament title.
Stephanie Madden, a 6-1 senior, scored 17.5 points and grabbed 10.5 rebounds per game last season. Madden, the league newcomer of the year, led the team with a 52.8 percent shooting percentage from the field. Ashlea Gray, a 5-9 senior, chipped in 6.8 points and 5.8 rebounds a game.
Langston, ranked 15th in the NAIA, has been favored to win the Red River Athletic Conference championship in the preseason.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has posted a stellar 150-26 record in his sixth season at OCU and a 452-145 record overall in his 21st season as a head coach. Edmisson, a two-time SAC coach of the year, has led the Stars to SAC regular-season championships three times and three SAC Tournament titles. Edmisson coached the only player drafted into the WNBA from OCU, Mariam Sy. He won 192 games at Hutchinson (Kan.) and 110 as a high-school coach in Kansas.
Jerome Willis has a 54-14 record in two seasons as Langston coach. Langston has won the past two conference regular-season and tournament titles with two appearances in the NAIA Tournament under Willis.
QUOTABLE: “We have some new transfer kids that have come in and made an impact on our team. We have a great bunch of returners. We are hopeful the combination of those two groups mold together well, buy in and that our team chemistry continues to develop like it has. We really this team has a chance to be very successful.” – Edmisson
FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Be sure to catch the OCU Athletics Update video program weekly on ocusports.com, the OCU YouTube Channel or on OCU Athletics' Facebook page. Click here to see the latest edition or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.
Listen to past game broadcasts and pregame and postgame interviews on the OCU pod center by clicking here.
Know when the game is happening and get scores and highlights following by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400.
ON THE AIR: There will be no live audio, stats or video provided for this game.
