Women's Basketball 2/15/2013 9:51:00 AM

OCU vs. St. Gregory's women's basketball preview

Stars aim for their 21st victory in a row

Jessica Lankston provides the Stars with 8.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.38 steals a game.

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University could secure a share of the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship with a victory over St. Gregory's.
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. The OCU pep dancers will celebrate their 25th year entertaining OCU fans with a special performance.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars routed John Brown (Ark.) 98-48 on Saturday, Feb. 9 at Abe Lemons Arena. OCU (21-2, 13-0 SAC) posted its sixth win of 50 points or more this season and extended its winning string against NAIA competition to 42.
Lauren Gober, a 6-foot-2 senior from Newcastle, Okla., equaled her career high with seven 3-pointers while collecting 27 points, five rebounds and four steals. A two-time all-American, Gober has amassed 1,578 points, 650 rebounds, 152 assists, 219 steals and 88 blocked shots while becoming OCU's all-time leading 3-point shooter with 288 3s. Gober compiles 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.22 steals a game.
Desiree Jeffries, a 6-foot senior from Oklahoma City, added 18 points, four rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Jeffries earned her second SAC player of the week award this season. Her career numbers entering the game are 939 points, 487 rebounds, 294 assists, 157 assists and 52 blocks. Jeffries averages 12.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.96 steals per game. Katie Hall, a 6-foot senior from Hazelton, Idaho, notched her team-high eighth double-double of the season with 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. She has posted 1,236 points and 1,053 rebounds in her college career – 944 points and 837 rebounds in her three years at Western State (Colo.). Hall records 12.7 points, 9.4 points and 1.57 steals a game along with a 56.5 percent field-goal percentage.
OCU leads NAIA Division I in scoring margin (34.6 points a game) and turnover margin (plus-14.5). The Stars rank in the top five nationally in nine team statistical categories, including second in scoring offense (84.4 points a game) and field-goal percentage (46.4 percent). Individually, Jessica Lankston's 89.6 percent free-throw percentage ranks second in the NAIA. To see how the Stars rank among national statistics, click here.
The Stars moved to second in the most recent NAIA Division I rankings. Defending national champion OCU has been listed in all 161 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 owns a 34-1 record against St. Gregory's. The Stars won 94-43 over St. Gregory's on Jan. 24 in Shawnee, Okla. Hall provided OCU with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Gober surpassed 1,500 career points.

ABOUT THE LADY CAVALIERS: Kalie Lucas' 3-pointer with 19 seconds left proved the difference in St. Gregory's 49-47 victory over USAO on Thursday in Shawnee, Okla. St. Gregory's (11-16, 4-9 SAC) held USAO to 27 percent shooting from the field in the second half.
Leticia Silva, a 5-10 senior, topped St. Gregory's with 13 points and eight rebounds. Silva averages 15.7 points and 6.1 rebounds a game. Lucas, a 6-1 junior, had 10 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Lucas chips in 9.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.37 blocks a game. Lucas leads the NAIA with 91 blocks to spearhead a St. Gregory's defense that leads the nation with 131 blocks on the season.
St. Gregory's had been expected to finish sixth in the SAC by conference coaches in the preseason.

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-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).
Herman Burge took over as St. Gregory's coach in May. Burge had been assistant coach at Stetson. Burge spent two seasons playing for OCU, averaging 9.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.78 steals a game as a sophomore for Win Case in 2004-05.

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 video, audio or stats 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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