6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University finds itself facing a familiar foe as the Stars travel to Mid-America Christian for the season's second matchup between the two teams.
ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City University grinded out a 73-61 win over Lubbock Christian (Texas) on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena to remain undefeated and move to 8-0, 3-0 in conference. The then third-ranked Stars took down the No. 20 Lady Chaparrals after trailing by three points at halftime. A hot-handed second half secured the OCU lead and eventual victory for the Stars.
Donica Cosby, a 5-foot-8 senior from Coldwater, Miss., picked up her first double-double of the season, pouring in 17 points and nabbing 10 rebounds against Lubbock Christian. Cosby was 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Cosby averages 10.5 points, 3.6 assists and a team-high 2.63 steals a game.
Taylor Booze, a 5-6 junior from Duncanville, Texas, added 17 points and four assists. Booze hit half her attempts from beyond the arc, hitting 3-of-6 long-range shots against the Lady Chaps. Booze currently ranks third in the NAIA in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.56 assists per turnover). She is hitting 50 percent of her 3-point attempts, good for 12th in the NAIA this year. Booze earned Sooner Athletic Conference women's basketball player of the week.
Lauren Gober, a 6-1 sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., had 11 points, six rebounds and three blocks for the Stars. Gober is the team's leading scorer and rebounder with averages of 13.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
The Stars are tops in the NAIA in field goal percentage (52.3 percent), assists per game (21.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.31 assists per turnover). OCU is ranked second in the NAIA in scoring margin (40.1 points) and points per game (87.570 points). As a team, the Stars are in the Top 15 in 13 statistical categories. To see where OCU stacks up in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars moved up to second in the latest 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 leads the all-time series with Mid-America Christian 7-0. In the last meeting, the Stars opened conference play with a 91-46 win over the Lady Evangels on Nov. 23.
ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian is fresh off a 69-58 come-from-behind victory over conference foe Wayland Baptist (Texas). After allowing Wayland Baptist to shoot 42.9 percent in the opening half, the Lady Evangels (5-3, 2-1) clamped down defensively and limited the Flying Queens to only a 20 percent shooting clip in the second half.
The Lady Evangels had opposite shooting fortunes, as they hit only 21.4 percent in the first half, but shot a blazing 54.5 percent in the final 20 minutes. Mid-America Christian is looking to extend its winning streak to four games.
The Lady Evangels were led by Nicole Wittman's 22 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Wittman, a 6-0 junior, is the team's leading scorer thus far, averaging 12.3 points per contest. She's also tops on the team in rebounds, averaging 6.1 per game, and leads Mid-America Christian with 11 steals and six blocks this season.
Brittany Woodard, a 5-8 junior, and Tranecia Smith, a 5-7 junior, chipped in 10 points each in the Lady Evangels' win over Wayland Baptist.
Mid-America Christian was slated to finish 10th in the SAC in the preseason.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has posted a stellar 158-26 record in his sixth season at OCU and a 460-145 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.
Roman Owen is in his first season at directing the Mid-America Christian program. Owen assumes head coaching responsibilities after assisting the OCU men's program in the previous two seasons. Owen assisted the Stars to a 36-26 record and an appearance in the 2010 NAIA Tournament. Owen played his collegiate basketball at Southwestern Christian in Bethany, Okla., where he still owns the record for all-time leading scorer with 2,802 points in his career. In 2008, Owen received the Pete Maravich Award, presented to the National Christian College Athletic Association player of the year. He was a three-time NCCAA all-American selection.
QUOTABLE: “This is what we call a maturity game. It's the first conference team that we play for a second time. We've just got to go down there and make sure we don't have a letdown.” – Edmisson on facing Mid-America Christian twice in under three weeks
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. Click here to view Mid-America Christian's live video of the game and here for the live stats.
