Women's Basketball 12/19/2012 2:30:00 PM

OCU vs. College of the Ozarks women's basketball preview

Jessica Lankston is ranked fifth in NAIA Division I in 3-point field goal percentage.

6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University returns from a 27-day layoff for a pre-holiday matchup with College of the Ozarks (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.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU, ranked No. 8 in NAIA Division I, picked up a pair of wins in the Oklahoma Baptist Holiday Classic on Nov. 23-24. The Stars pounded Northwood (Texas) 102-32 before mauling Central Christian (Kan.) 133-24. OCU enters the contest with a 5-2 record.
Senior Lauren Gober led the way against Central Christian with a career-high 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. The 6-foot-2 forward averaged 27.5 points and 11.0 rebounds during the OBU Holiday Classic. Gober is ranked first in NAIA Division I in 3-point field goals made per game (4.1) and seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (0.46) and points per game (20.8).
Fellow senior Jessica Lankston added 22 points, four assists and four steals. The guard from Kansas, Okla., shot 7-of-10 from the field and 6-of-8 from behind the 3-point line against Central Christian. Lankston has scored in double figures three times this season and averages 9.5 points per outing.
Forward Autumn Huffman stuffed the stat sheet with 12 steals, 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes of action against Central Christian. The 5-foot-9 junior shot 50 percent from the field and tied the OCU record from most steals in a game set by Kesha Watson against Doane (Neb.) on Nov. 7, 2003. Huffman is first on the team in steals with 2.86 per game.
OCU is ranked No. 1 in NAIA Division I in scoring margin (38.1) and turnover margin (15.8). The Stars are ranked in the top-5 in 11 statistical categories. To see how OCU stacks up against the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars, ranked No. 8 in the latest NAIA top-25 coaches' poll, have appeared in 156 consecutive NAIA Division I polls. OCU was picked to finish third in the Sooner Athletic Conference by league coaches.
This is the first meeting between the two schools in women's basketball.

ABOUT THE LADY BOBCATS: The Lady Bobcats, ranked No. 4 in NAIA Division II, defeated Missouri Valley 71-54 on Dec. 12 to improve to 12-1 on the season. Ozarks enters the matchup on a five-game win streak and is ranked in the top 10 in nine statistical categories in NAIA Division II.
Morgan Smith led the Lady Bobcats with 19 points on 60 percent shooting against Missouri Valley. The 6-foot center leads the squad and NAIA Division II in scoring with 25.6 points per contest.
Kayla Kepler added 17 points and four assists in the 71-54 victory. The 5-foot-7 guard hit 4-of-7 from 3-point distance and is ranked sixth in NAIA Division II in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 47 percent from deep.
Emily Walker passed out seven assists to go along with her nine points against Missouri Valley. The 5-foot-6 guard leads the Lady Bobcats in assists (3.8) and steals (1.77) per game.

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 entering 2012-13. 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.
George Wilson enters his 15th season as head coach at Ozarks. He owns a 384-80 record with the Lady Bobcats and a career record of 943-364. Wilson has led his teams to 12 MCAC titles and advanced to the NAIA Division II Tournament 13 times, including seven quarterfinal appearances and three straight championship-game appearances.

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.

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 women'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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