Women's Basketball 1/2/2013 1:51:00 PM

OCU at John Brown women's basketball preview

Jessica Lankston is shooting 45 percent from 3-point distance to lead the Stars.

6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 3
Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs, Ark.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University kicks off Sooner Athletic Conference play with a trip to Bill George Arena to take on John Brown (Ark.).

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars, ranked No. 8 in NAIA Division I, are fresh off dominating wins over fourth-ranked Westmont (Calif.) and San Diego Christian (Calif.) in the GSAC Challenge. OCU topped Westmont 80-48 and San Diego Christian 76-32 to improve to 8-2 on the season.
Junior Kayla MacKenzie led the Stars' attack, averaging 18 points per game on 51 percent shooting during the tournament. The guard from Peoria, Ariz., posted a season-high 21 points against San Diego Christian and averages 12.3 points off the bench for the Stars. MacKenzie is one of four Stars averaging double figures in points per game.
Forward Lauren Gober tallied 14 points and snagged six rebounds against Westmont and followed with 17 points and seven rebounds against San Diego Christian. The senior from Newcastle, Okla., hit a third of her 3-point attempts during the GSAC Challenge while shooting 43 percent from behind the 3-point line on the season. Gober averages 18.5 points per game to lead the Stars and the SAC in scoring.
Katie Hall, of Hazelton, Idaho, grabbed a team-high nine rebounds against Westmont and snagged seven rebounds against San Diego Christian. The senior center leads the Stars in rebounds per outing (8.6) and is 24th in NAIA Division I in offensive rebounds per game (3.7). Hall averages 10.8 points per contest for OCU.
OCU is ranked No. 1 in NAIA Division I in scoring margin (35.6) and turnover margin (14.6) and is ranked in the top-5 in nine 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 has been picked to finish third in the conference this season. OCU has won or shared 13 SAC regular-season crowns and owns nine SAC Tournament titles. The league tournament will be held Feb. 27-March 2 at the Noble Complex in Shawnee, Okla.
OCU owns a 34-4 advantage in the all-time series against John Brown. The Stars ran away with an 88-54 victory over the Lady Eagles in the 2012 SAC Tournament at Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs, Ark.

ABOUT THE LADY EAGLES: John Brown enters the contest with a 5-7 record. In their last game, the Lady Eagles picked up a 69-54 victory over Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) on Dec. 8.
Guard Sierra Shipley led John Brown with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor against Harris-Stowe State. The 5-foot-9 Shipley has reached double figures nine times this season and averages 13 points per game to lead the Lady Eagles.
Kortni Barenberg notched 11 points and six rebounds in the 69-54 victory. The 6-foot forward averages 8.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and leads the squad in blocks with seven on the season.
Forward Morgan Ankrom added nine points and grabbed six rebounds in the win against Harris-Stowe State. The 6-foot Ankrom averages 8.4 points per game and leads John Brown with 6.7 rebounds per contest.
John Brown is ranked third in NAIA Division I in made 3-point field goals per game (8.5) and free throw percentage (0.76). The Lady Eagles were picked to finish fifth in the SAC by league coaches.

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.
Jeff Soderquist has become John Brown's winningest women's basketball coach with 219 career wins in 15 seasons. He has taken John Brown to three NAIA Tournament 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 serves as the voice of the Stars. To access the live audio, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
John Brown will provide live stats and video of the game. To watch the game, click here, and to follow the game via live stats, click here.

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