Women's Basketball 1/20/2012 3:18:00 PM

OCU vs. USAO women's basketball preview

Tiffany Goldwire leads OCU in rebounding with 6.7 boards per game.

3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: No. 2 Oklahoma City University looks to pick up its third straight win with a home contest against Sooner Athletic Conference opponent USAO.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars dominated rival Southern Nazarene, ranked 15th, 87-31 Thursday at the Sawyer Center in Bethany, Okla. OCU held the Crimson Storm to 31 points in the win, their lowest point total in the history of the rivalry. With the win, the Stars' record moves to 16-1 overall and 10-1 in SAC play.
Senior Nicollette Smith led all scorers with 19 points in only 13 minutes of action. The junior from Tulsa, Okla., scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half. Smith averages 11.6 points per outing and has scored in double figures in six games this season.
Guard Dietra Caldwell led the Stars in the first half, scoring all of her 17 points in the period. The senior from Missouri City, Texas, shot 5-for-8 from 3-point distance, pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out six assists. Caldwell leads OCU in scoring with 13.5 points per game.
Taylor Booze of Duncanville, Texas, added 13 points and six assists in the 87-31 win. The senior guard leads the team in assists, 4.0, and steals, 2.94, per game and is 16th in NAIA Division I in total steals with 50.
The Stars a currently ranked first in NAIA Division I in scoring margin, win games by an average of 34.7 points, and are ranked in the top-5 in 10 statistical categories. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars hold the No. 2 ranking in the latest NAIA Division I poll. 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 sit in second place in the SAC standings, and have been favored to win the SAC championship in the preseason by league coaches.
The Stars hold a 43-3 all-time record over USAO. In their first meeting this season OCU pounded the Drovers 98-44 at USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla., on Dec. 1. Senior Lauren Gober posted 21 points and Caldwell added 20 in the blowout.

ABOUT THE DROVERS: USAO dropped to Mid-America Christian 67-58 Thursday on the road. The Drovers are 5-12 overall and 2-8 in SAC play.
Sophomore Paige Pulliam led USAO with a team-high 21 points and six assists. Pulliam averages 14.5 points per game and has scored 20 points or more in four games this season.
Tashina Ototivo followed with 19 points and eight boards. The 5-foot-8 forward leads the Droves in rebounding with 7.5 per game.
Forward Liberty Payne posted five points and five rebounds in the loss. Payne is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.6 points per contest.
The Drover currently sit 11th in the SAC standings and were picked to finish 10th in the conference in the preseason.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Rob Edmissonhas posted a stellar 191-30 record in his seventh season at OCU and a 493-149 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.
Laci Tompkins has a 15-47 record in her third season as USAO coach. Tompkins played basketball at USAO from 1991-95, then spent four seasons as an assistant coach there. She spent nine seasons on the junior-college level as Redlands (Okla.) head coach.

QUOTABLE: “I'm not one of those coaches that believes you can learn more from losing than you do form winning, but I think that result woke our kids up a little bit.” – Edmisson on losing to Lubbock Christian

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 or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.
Know when the game is happening 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: 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.
The live audio and stats will be provided free of charge, while the cost to see the video will be $6.95. A men's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' 2011-12 home games costs $29.95, while an 2011-12 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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