Women's Basketball 1/16/2013 3:18:00 PM

OCU vs. Rogers State women's basketball preview

Top 25-ranked teams collide at Abe Lemons Arena

Autumn Huffman contributes 7.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Stars.

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University returns home to take on Rogers State in a matchup of undefeated teams in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
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: The Stars, ranked No. 4 in NAIA women's basketball, followed their victory over top-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) with an 84-64 win over Wayland Baptist (Texas) Saturday at the Hutcherson Center in Plainview, Texas. OCU improved to 12-2 overall and 4-0 in SAC play.
Forward Desiree Jeffries led the Stars attack against the Flying Queens with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Jeffries, the SAC player of the week, is fourth on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game and is second in field goal percentage at 55 percent. The senior from Oklahoma City leads the Stars in assists per game (3.4) and is 15th in NAIA Division I in assists/turnover ratio (2.0).
Junior Kayla MacKenzie posted a team-high 17 points off the bench against Wayland Baptist. The guard from Peoria, Ariz., averages 11.5 points per game and spearheads an OCU second unit that outscores opposing benches 401-206 on the season. MacKenzie is second on the team in steals with 29 takeaways on the season.
Jessica Lankston, of Kansas, Okla., added 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor, 4-of-4 from the free throw line and 2-of-2 from 3-point range. The senior guard is third on the team in 3-point percentage (0.43) and made 3-pointers (21). Lankston is first on the team and third in NAIA Division I in free throw percentage shooting 91 percent from the charity stripe.
OCU is first in NAIA Division I in scoring margin (33.6) and turnover margin (12.7) and is ranked in the top-5 in eight statistical categories. To see how the Stars stack up against the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars moved to fourth in the latest NAIA Division I rankings. Defending national champion OCU has been listed in all 158 polls since 1999-2000. The Stars own national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2012. SAC coaches predicted OCU would finish third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 13 times – in 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The Stars own a 10-1 all-time record over Rogers State. In the last meeting between the two, OCU dropped the Hillcats 61-50 on Feb. 16, 2012 at Abe Lemons Arena.

ABOUT THE HILLCATS: Rogers State squeezed past John Brown (Ark.) 53-50 Saturday at Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs, Ark. The win pushed the 13-ranked Hillcats to 14-4 overall and 4-0 in SAC competition.
Rogers State is lead by guard Leah Smith with 12 point per contest. The 5-foot-8 Smith has topped the double-digit mark 11 times this season and averages 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
Forward Logan Froese posted seven points and six rebounds against John Brown. The 6-foot-1 Froese averages 10.5 points and leads the team in rebounds with 6.5 boards per game.
Guard Sierra Cornwell posted four steals in the 53-50 victory. She is first on the team and third in NAIA Division I with 3.94 steals per game. The 5-foot-8 Cornwell averages 7.2 points per outing.
Rogers State is 11th in NAIA Division I in total steals (216) and 15th in steals per game (12.0). The Hillcats were picked to finish second in the SAC by league coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell is in the midst of 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. 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 was assistant coach at OCU from 2005-07. 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. Trammell also spent time as head coach at Midwest City High School and Bill Ryan High School (Texas).
Roxanne Long enters her first season as head coach of the Hillcats. Long spent the past four seasons as head coach at Texas Lutheran where she was named American Southwest Conference coach of the year in 2009. During her playing days, she was a three-year starter at Oklahoma where she ranks in the top-10 in minutes played and made 3-pointers.

VOTE FOR THE NAIA GAME OF THE WEEK: Vote for Thursday's game as the women's basketball game of the week in the NAIA by going to facebook.com/PlayNAIA. Votes are counted Thursday morning, so act now.

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. 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. 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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