1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4
Abe Lemons Arena
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University collides with Lubbock Christian (Texas) in a faceoff of top-20 teams in NAIA Division I women's basketball.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 students and free to OCU students, faculty and staff with their ID.
ABOUT THE STARS: OCU hammered Wayland Baptist (Texas) 94-51 on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (6-0, 1-0 SAC) held Wayland Baptist to 26.2 percent shooting from the field. Wayland Baptist committed 30 turnovers, which OCU turned into 35 points.
Taylor Booze, a 5-foot-6 junior from Duncanville, Texas, recorded a season-high 20 points and six steals to go with six assists. She shot 7-for-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Booze averages 8.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and a team-high 4.0 assists a game.
Lauren Gober, a 6-2 sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., came through with 20 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. Gober, the 2010 SAC freshman of the year, leads OCU with 13.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.71 blocks a game. She ranks 10th in the NAIA hitting 50 percent of her 3-point shots.
Starr Fairbanks, a 6-2 senior from Cincinnati, provided 11 points, four rebounds and two blocks off the bench. Fairbanks averages 9.0 points and 2.5 rebounds a game.
OCU leads NAIA Division I in field-goal percentage (53.7 percent), assists a game (22.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.32 assists per turnover). The Stars rank second in the NAIA with 92.1 points a game. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars were ranked third in the preseason NAIA Division I 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. Five-time national champion OCU entered the season tied for the most wins in NAIA women's basketball since 2000-01.
OCU has gone 34-6 against Lubbock Christian over the years. The Stars edged Lubbock Christian 79-77 in overtime in the SAC Tournament on March 5 in Bethany, Okla. Donica Cosby scored 30 points.
ABOUT THE LADY CHAPS: Lubbock Christian dropped a 76-68 overtime decision to Mid-America Christian on Thursday at the Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City. Mid-America overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to win. Lubbock Christian fell to 4-4, 2-1 in the SAC.
Brittany Hampton, a 5-7 junior, posted 25 points and five assists for Lubbock Christian. She leads her team with 17.4 points and 2.38 steals a game. Emily Atkins, a 5-9 freshman, had 10 points and five rebounds. Atkins averages 16.8 points and 4.3 rebounds a game.
Lubbock Christian has been projected to finish third in the league according to the SAC preseason coaches' poll. Lubbock Christian is ranked 20th nationally.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has posted a stellar 157-26 record in his sixth season at OCU and a 459-145 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.
Steve Gomez has won more often than any other Lubbock Christian women's basketball coach. Gomez has a 155-81 record in his eighth season guiding Lubbock Christian.
QUOTABLE: “That's our trademark. We talked about what we call flipping the floor. We want to defend it, deflect it and go. Our kids are becoming really alert and just doing some different things to make people play fast. The faster we make people play, the poorer their decisions tend to be and our kids are becoming really good at anticipating where's the next pass going to go and we're starting to get a lot of steals.” – Edmisson on OCU's defense
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. Get conference scores and highlights by calling the SAC Hotline at (405) 878-2110.
ON THE AIR: The game will be broadcast via the OCU athletics web site. Greg Merick will call the action, while Andrew Himes provides analysis. Click here to listen to the broadcast, here for the live stats and here to access the video stream.
To order the video on ocusports.com/showcase, click on "Women's Basketball vs. Lubbock Christian." Then either enter a user name and password or select "Sign up for a new all-access subscription."
