Women's Basketball 11/1/2012 4:07:00 PM

OCU vs. Evangel women's basketball preview

Juniors Cara Pugh, Autumn Huffman, Kayla MacKenzie, Clara Russell and Tiffany Bellamy look to push OCU past Evangel.

Noon Saturday, Nov. 3
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Defending NAIA champion Oklahoma City University kicks off its regular season against Evangel (Mo.). Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students. OCU students, faculty and staff get in free to all Stars regular-season home events with their university ID. It's homecoming, and this year we honor the class of 1962, so make plans now to come home to OCU.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU posted a 35-1 record a season ago and downed Union (Tenn.) 69-48 in the national-championship game en route to the program's sixth NAIA title. OCU fell 91-42 to defending NCAA champion Baylor in an exhibition game Tuesday in Waco, Texas.
Senior Lauren Gober, of Newcastle, Okla., led the Stars against the Lady Bears with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Gober has averaged 8.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in five exhibitions against NCAA Division I opponents. The 6-foot-2 forward posted four double-doubles a season ago and enters the season with 1,201 career points.
Cara Pugh, a junior from Oklahoma City, posted eight points against Baylor. The 6-foot-2 center logged 20 minutes against the Lady Bears and averaged 10.4 per game last season. Pugh posted 3.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest a season ago.
Center Katie Hall corralled nine rebounds against the Baylor front court of 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner and 6-foot-5 Kristina Higgins. The senior from Hazelton, Idaho, compiled 837 rebounds in three seasons at Western State (Colo.) and averaged just over 10 boards per game.
The Stars, ranked No. 10 in the NAIA preseason top-25 poll, have appeared in 154 consecutive NAIA Division I polls. OCU was picked to finish third in the Sooner Athletic Conference by league coaches.

ABOUT THE CRUSADERS: Evangel is lead by leading returning scorer Emily Akins. The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 11.6 points per game a season ago. Akins ranked second in NAIA Division I in 3-point percentage (0.45) in 2011-12.
Sierra McSpadden is the Crusaders leading returning rebounder. The senior forward averaged 3.4 boards to go along with 8.0 points per game a season ago.
Evangel ranked third in the nation in total rebound defense (31.2) and 11th in free throw percentage (0.74) in 2011-12. The Crusaders are picked to finish fifth in the Heart of America Athletic Conference this season.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell enters her first season as head coach of the Stars. Trammell returns to OCU after serving as Western State (Colo.) head coach the past five seasons. Trammell was assistant coach at OCU from 2005-07. At Western State, Trammell had 13 all-RMAC selections, including the RMAC West Division freshman of the year and RMAC player of the year. Trammell also spent time as head coach at Midwest City High School and Bill Ryan High School (Texas). As a head coach, Trammell has led her teams to a 170-121 record. As an assistant at OCU, Trammell mentored the Stars' first WNBA draftee, Mariam Sy of the Washington Mystics, 10 all-conference choices, the SAC player of the year, SAC newcomer of the year and four all-Americans.
Leon Neal enters his 19th season at the head coach at Evangel. Neal is a six-time HAAC coach of the year and owns a career record of 380-208. Neal has led the Crusaders to seven HAAC titles and nine NAIA Division I Tournament appearances including two semifinals appearances.

QUOTABLE: “The little things make the big things happen. I have found in my 19 years of coaching that I can't coach lazy. I've got to have some young ladies that will get out there and battle every time they step on the floor and just do the little things. When we do that, our team chemistry is there and we feed off each other. Communication brings energy, and if we go out there and compete like we know we can then we have a great shot at keeping this tradition alive.” – Trammell on the key to OCU's success

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. Andrew Himes will be the voice of the Stars in 2012-13 after previously providing commentary on the OCU broadcasts. To access the live audio, stats or video 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 $7.95 per game. A men's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' 2012-13 home games costs $29.95, while an 2012-13 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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