Women's Basketball 11/21/2011 2:37:00 PM

OCU at Mid-America Christian women's basketball preview

Philicia Kelly came off the bench to score 19 points and grab eight rebounds against St. Thomas (Texas) on Nov. 12.

6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University opens Sooner Athletic Conference play with a matchup at Mid-America Christian.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU stomped St. Thomas (Texas) 110-46 on Nov. 12 at Abe Lemons Arena to begin the season. The Stars nailed 12 out of 33 3-point attempts while leading by as much as 66 points.
Kayla MacKenzie, a 5-foot-6 sophomore from Peoria, Ariz., set her career highs with 25 points and five 3-pointers. MacKenzie, who averaged 4.2 points and 1.3 rebounds a game last season, knocked in 9 of her 17 shots from the field.
Philicia Kelly, a 5-8 senior from Nassau, Bahamas, pitched in 19 points and eight rebounds. Kelly shot 6-for-9 from the floor and 7-for-8 on free throws. She shared Heartland Conference player of the year honors while playing for Newman (Kan.) last season. Taylor Booze, a 5-6 senior from Duncanville, Texas, added 14 points, five rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Booze recorded 9.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.06 steals a game in 2010-11 while sharing SAC defensive player of the year honors.
OCU lead NAIA Division I with 110 points, 26 offensive rebounds and 25 assists per game as well as a 64-point victory margin, plus-28 rebound margin and plus-15 turnover margin. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars were third in the preseason NAIA Division I rankings. Five-time national champion OCU ranks among the leaders in wins in NAIA women's basketball over the past decade. OCU captured its 12th SAC regular-season title and reeled off its 13th consecutive 25-win season in 2010-11. The Stars have been favored to win the SAC championship in the preseason by league coaches.
OCU owns an 8-0 advantage in the all-time series against Mid-America. The Stars throttled Mid-America Christian 74-45 on Dec. 10, 2010 at the Gaulke Activity Center. Gober led OCU with 20 points, six rebounds and two steals.

ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian trounced Texas College 81-45 on Friday in the Gaulke Activity Center. Mid-America's 5-0 start is its finest since joining the NAIA in 2007-08.
Parris Price, a 5-3 junior, keyed Mid-America with 26 points while hitting 7 of 10 shots from the field and all 10 of her free-throw-attempts. Price leads her team with 12.2 points and 5.6 assists a game. Brittany Woodard, a 5-8 senior, contributed 14 points, four rebounds and two steals while sinking three 3-pointers. Woodard tops Mid-America with 2.20 steals and 0.80 blocked shots a game. Mid-America Christian leads the NAIA by allowing 38.4 points a game and a 13.5 percent 3-point shooting percentage.
Mid-America Christian had been picked to finish ninth in the preseason SAC coaches' poll.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmisson has posted a stellar 178-30 record in his seventh season at OCU and a 477-149 record overall in his 22nd season as a head coach. Edmisson, a two-time SAC coach of the year, has led the Stars to four SAC regular-season championships and four SAC Tournament titles. Edmisson coached the only player drafted into the WNBA from OCU, Mariam Sy, as well as six other Stars who have turned professional. He won 192 games at Hutchinson (Kan.) and 110 as a high-school coach in Kansas.
Roman Owen leads Mid-America Christian's women's basketball and men's golf programs. He directed the Lady Evangels to a 16-17 record and a fifth-place finish in the National Christian College Athletic Association last season in his first season as a head coach. Owen, a former assistant for the OCU men's program, scored a program-high 2,802 points and garnered the Pete Maravich Award playing for Southwestern Christian. Oklahoma City Thunder fans will remember him for hitting a $20,000 half-court shot in between quarters of an NBA playoff game last season.

QUOTABLE: “One of their kids in the postgame quotes said, 'We played a lot better today. We're a lot better rebounding team. Since the Oklahoma City game our coaches have been harping on us.' At least we earned our paycheck in that game.” – Edmisson on OCU's exhibition against Texas A&M
"I think it was very huge for us. I took it personally last game. I think I had one rebound. Coach (Gary) Blair challenged me, and I knew if I did nothing else I had to rebound tonight. We got outrebounded against Oklahoma City a couple of weeks ago and Coach (Vic) Schaefer has been on us. It's something I take personal because it's just about going to get the ball and about who wants it more." – Kelsey Bone after Texas A&M's win over Louisville

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Become a fan of the Oklahoma City University Stars on Facebook by going to www.facebook.com/ocustars.
Become a follower of the OCU Stars on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ocustars.
Check out video of the Stars in action at www.youtube.com/ocustars.
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.
Know when the game is happening by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400.

ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Greg Merick and Eric Rodgers will call the game. To access the live audio for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
Mid-America will provide live stats and video of the game. To follow the live stats, click here, and for the video, click here.

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