Women's Basketball 11/21/2013 1:07:00 PM

OCU at Austin (Texas) women's basketball preview

Stars begin 2013-14 in earnest Saturday

OCU seniors are from left, Cara Pugh, Kayla MacKenzie, Autumn Huffman and Autumn Lau.

4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23
Hughey Gymnasium in Sherman, Texas

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University opens the regular season on the road against Austin (Texas).
Austin College will collect canned foods to aid in the Stars' annual food drive to provide for Skyline Urban Ministry in Oklahoma City. OCU student-athletes have collected approximately 26,000 food items for needy in the community through their annual food drive over the past six years. For information, see here.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU dropped an exhibition contest to Baylor 91-49 before 6,194 on Nov. 5 in Waco, Texas. Baylor failed to score 100 points for the first time this season and managed 41.6 percent shooting from the field – 38.1 percent in the second half. In 2012-13, OCU reeled off a 28-4 showing, reaching the NAIA Division I Tournament quarterfinals and capturing the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship. OCU made its 16th consecutive national-tournament appearance and notched its 15th 25-win season in a row. At 16-0, OCU became the 10th team in SAC history to go unbeaten in league play while winning its fifth consecutive conference crown.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-foot-7 junior from Spring Valley, Calif., topped OCU with 13 points and three 3-pointers in 12 minutes against Baylor. Neal made first-team all-region at Cochise (Ariz.) last season. Neal led the Stars with 13.0 points a game in their exhibitions against Texas A&M and Baylor.
Tommitrise Collins, a 6-1 redshirt freshman from Macon, Ga., supplied the Stars with 11 points and five rebounds off the bench. Collins spent last season as a redshirt at Texas-El Paso. She averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in OCU's exhibitions. Autumn Huffman, a 5-9 senior from Midwest City, Okla., had eight points and four rebounds. Huffman contributed 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in exhibition play this season.
OCU led the NAIA in turnover margin at plus-12.84 as team while ranking second in average scoring margin (29.93) and third in scoring defense (50.41 per game) and defensive field-goal percentage (33.0 percent). To see where OCU ranked against the NAIA statistically last season, click here.
The Stars garnered the No. 2 spot in the preseason national rankings, picking up three out of a possible seven No. 1 votes. Defending national champion OCU has been listed in all 166 polls since 1999-2000. The Stars own national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2012. SAC coaches predicted OCU would win the league title. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 14 times.
OCU will face Austin for the first time in women's basketball.

ABOUT THE 'ROOS: Austin College erased a 16-point deficit to win 76-74 over Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) on Nov. 16 in Belton, Texas. Brooke Melton's free throws with 19 seconds left provided the difference. Melton made the margin hold up as she blocked Macy Moore's 3-point attempt as time ran out.
Christina Kime, a 5-4 junior, piled up 16 points and four rebounds for Austin College. Kime posted 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds a contest in 2012-13. Erin Riley, a 5-10 senior, added 16 points and six rebounds against Mary Hardin-Baylor. Riley led the team with 12.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in taking second-team all-conference honors last season.
Austin had been pegged to finsh third place in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference before the season.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell reeled off a 28-4 record and became conference coach of the year in her first season as OCU head coach in 2012-13. She has a 93-80 record in six seasons as a college head coach. Trammell returned to OCU last season after serving as Western State (Colo.) head coach from 2007-12. As a head coach, Trammell has coached three all-Americans and 17 all-conference selections, including the co-SAC player of the year, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player of the year and RMAC West Division freshman of the year. Trammell was assistant coach at OCU from 2005-07. As an assistant at OCU from 2005-07, 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 Denton Bill Ryan High School (Texas).
Michelle Filander has guided Austin College to a 24-54 record in her fourth season at the helm. She served as assistant coach at Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) for four years before becoming a head coach, aiding W&J to three NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. Filander played on the NCAA Division I level at Robert Morris and helped lead Ohio Wesleyan to the NCAA Division III semifinals as a student assistant.

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Help OCU win an NAIA contest and gain more followers on social media in 2013-14. 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: Austin College will provide fans the opportunity to follow the game via live video and live stats.

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