6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20
Abe Lemons Arena
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University defends its 27-game home-court winning streak and an undefeated season as they play host to Oklahoma Baptist at Abe Lemons Arena.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 students and free to OCU students, faculty and staff with their ID.
ABOUT THE STARS: OCU remained undefeated after beating up on USAO in an 80-49 affair in Chickasha, Okla. on Saturday. The Stars, ranked No. 2 in NAIA Division I women's basketball, moved to 15-0, 10-0 in SAC play.
OCU was led by Lauren Gober, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from Newcastle, Okla., who had a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds in the win. Gober was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc for the Stars. She leads the team in many individual categories, including 13.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 0.87 blocks, 45.2 percent 3-point shooting and 82.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Starr Fairbanks, a 6-2 senior from Cincinnati, chipped in 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and pulled down three rebounds. Fairbanks puts an average 11.9 points and 3.9 rebounds on the board for the Stars each night.
Tiffany Goldwire, a 5-9 junior from Oklahoma City, added 14 points and nine rebounds for OCU. Goldwire, posts 6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game for OCU. Donica Cosby, a 5-8 senior from Coldwater, Miss., had a game-high seven assists and 11 points for the Stars. Cosby, had a team-leading 4.4 assists per game average while adding 11.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
OCU leads NAIA Division I with a 49.4 percent team shooting percentage and a scoring margin of 33.7 points a game. The Stars are second in assists per game (19.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.13). Individually, Cosby, Taylor Booze, Emily Davis, and Desiree Jeffries are all in the top 50 in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio numbers. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars were 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 owns a 39-21 all-time record against Oklahoma Baptist. The Stars edged the Lady Bison 62-55 in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament finals in their last meeting on March 6. Cosby led the Stars with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals en route to tournament MVP honors. OCU's last home loss came at the hands of the Lady Bison on Jan. 22, 2009.
ABOUT THE LADY BISON: The Lady Bison (6-11, 4-5 SAC) forced four turnovers in the last 65 seconds and after a 3-point miss at the buzzer Oklahoma Baptist held off Northwestern in a 63-60 win Saturday in Shawnee, Okla.
Gabriell Mattox, a 5-11 senior, scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Mattox is leading Oklahoma Baptist with 17.6 points, 3.7 assists per game and 57.8 percent field-goal shooting. She sits in second on the team with 7.8 rebounds per contest.
Samantha Smith, a 6-2 senior, had a game-high 15 rebounds for Oklahoma Baptist and is leading the team with 8.1 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per contest. Smith gets 13.8 points per game for the Lady Bison.
Lauren Crenshaw, a 5-4 freshman, added 15 points for the Lady Bison and Meredith Treat, a 6-0 sophomore, contributed 12 points. Crenshaw puts in 12.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists a game. Treat averages 5.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game for Oklahoma Baptist.
Oklahoma Baptist was slated to finish second in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the coaches' preseason poll.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has posted a stellar 165-26 record in his sixth season at OCU and a 467-145 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.
John McCullough is in his 11th season directing the Lady Bison. McCullough has led Oklahoma Baptist to 10 consecutive national-tournament appearances, including the 2009 NAIA semifinals. McCullough is a 1980 graduate of Oklahoma, where he earned honors as a Big Eight Conference MVP, All-American and a three-time all conference selection before playing professionally with the Phoenix Suns.
QUOTABLE: “There's no doubt that OBU and Oklahoma City University is something we look forward to and I want to make sure our kids have a great week of practice. We understand that a team can get really dangerous when they don't have anything to lose and OBU is in that position.” – 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.
See the 2010-11 OCU women's basketball media guide, click 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 serves as the play-by-play man, while Andrew Himes will be the analyst. 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. Oklahoma Baptist." Then either enter a user name and password or select "Sign up for a new all-access subscription."
