Women's Basketball 1/4/2013 11:56:00 AM

OCU vs. USAO women's basketball preview

Stars return to Abe Lemons Arena for first time since Dec. 21

Desiree Jeffries piles up 10.3 points and 4.2 rebounds a game for the Stars.

3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University has a showdown with USAO in the Stars' first home Sooner Athletic Conference contest of 2012-13.
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: OCU opened league play with a 73-45 drubbing of John Brown (Ark.) on Thursday in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Stars (9-2, 1-0 SAC) held John Brown to 31.7 percent shooting from the field.
Katie Hall, a 6-foot senior from Hazelton, Idaho, spurred OCU with a game-high 21 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots. Hall notched her third double-double of the season while sinking 8-of-12 from the floor. Hall has put together 11.7 points and 9.0 rebounds a game plus a team-high 61.3 percent field-goal percentage. She now owns 1,073 points in her college career – 944 in three seasons competing for Western State (Colo.).
Lauren Gober, a 6-2 senior from Newcastle, Okla., compiled 13 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two 3-pointers. Gober records 18.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.36 steals a game. A two-time all-American, Gober has accrued 1,399 points, 580 rebounds 133 assists, 194 steals, 77 blocks and an OCU-record 254 treys in her Stars career. Cara Pugh, a 6-2 junior from Oklahoma City, scored a season-high 15 points while adding four rebounds and three steals Thursday. Pugh is averaging career highs with 6.8 points and 4.7 rebounds a game.
OCU tops NAIA Division I in scoring margin (34.9 points a game) and turnover margin (plus-14.1). The Stars rank in the top five nationally in eight team statistical categories. Individually, Gober's 3.36 3-pointers per game ranks second in the NAIA. To see how the Stars rank among national statistics, click here.
The Stars are ranked eighth in the latest NAIA Division I rankings. Defending national champion OCU has been listed in all 156 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.
OCU leads the all-time series against USAO 44-3. The Stars routed USAO 108-42 on Jan. 21, 2012 at Abe Lemons Arena in the last meeting. Gober led all scorers with 19 points.

ABOUT THE LADY DROVERS: Ariani Silva's 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left provided 14th-ranked Rogers State with a 66-64 win over USAO on Thursday in Chickasha, Okla. Tashina Ototivo's free throw put USAO (9-4, 0-1 SAC) ahead 64-60 with 38 seconds remaining, but Kelby Fritz rallied Rogers State by hitting three free throws with 22 seconds left.
Rocio Medrano, a 6-3 senior, spearheaded USAO with 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and three 3-pointers. Medrano has accumulated 12.9 points and 5.5 rebounds a game this season. Ototivo, a 5-8 senior, had 12 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ototivo averages 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. Krista Ford, a 5-9 senior, leads the Lady Drovers with 13.1 points a game. Ford became the American Southwest Conference newcomer of the year last season at Sul Ross State (Texas).
USAO had been expected to finish ninth in the nine-team SAC according to the preseason league coaches' poll.

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 head coach the past five seasons. At Western State, Trammell had 13 all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference 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).
Jennifer Hayden took over USAO's women's basketball program in May prior to this season. Hayden previously served as assistant coach at Sul Ross State, where she recruited and coached the 2011-12 American Southwest Conference West Division newcomer of the year. Hayden's head-coaching record is 31-44 including two seasons starting the University of the Southwest (N.M.) program.

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 provides the play-by-play. 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. A women's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' 2012-13 home games costs $29.95, while a 2012-13 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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