Women's Basketball 2/23/2013 10:40:00 PM

Stars top Rogers State 78-66, finish SAC play 16-0

OCU finishes regular season 24-2 overall, 16-0 in SAC play

Desiree Jeffries notched 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against Rogers State.

Box Score
CLAREMORE, Okla. – Oklahoma City University escaped with a 78-66 victory over Rogers State Saturday at the Claremore Expo Center.
The Stars, ranked second in NAIA Division I women's basketball, completed Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 16-0 record. OCU, 24-2 overall, has finished conference play undefeated in 2002-03, 2005-06 and now 2012-13.
OCU became the 10th women's basketball team in SAC history to go unbeaten in league play. Oklahoma Baptist went without loss in SAC play in 1982-83, Oklahoma Christian did it twice and Southern Nazarene performed the feat four times.
“One of our goals this season was to go undefeated in conference play,” OCU coach Latricia Trammell said. “We're only the third team in program history to do that and I told the girls to enjoy and appreciate it. Monday when come to practice that chapter is over and we'll set new goals.”
Junior Kayla MacKenzie paced the Stars with a season-high 25 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point land.
Rogers State raced out to an early 13-8 lead. Sierra Cornwell scored a pair of layups in transition and Ariani Silva hit a 3-pointer to stake the Hillcats to the five point advantage.
MacKenzie buried a 3-point jumper at the 13:02 mark and cut the Rogers State lead to 13-11.
The Hillcats responded with an 11-5 run to take a 24-16 lead with 7:44 remaining in the first half.
Rogers State scored 16 points at the free throw line in the first half and led by as many 10 points in the period.
Desiree Jeffries scored in the paint and MacKenzie buried a 3-pointer to cut the Rogers State lead to 39-34 at the half. The duo posted 11 points apiece in the frame to lead the Stars.
OCU turned the ball over 10 times and shot just 10-of-35 from floor in the first half.
“We're not used to going to the locker room behind,” Trammell said. “It is something that we learned from and probably something that we needed. We responded in the second half.”
Jeffries scored in the paint with 18:04 on the clock in the second half to spark a 14-4 OCU run. MacKenzie hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at 49-49 and Katie Hall followed with a bucket in the paint to give the Stars their first lead of the half with 12:24 to go.
At the 9:01 mark, Lauren Gober scored in the paint to send the Stars on an 11-0 run. Gober had five points to fuel the run and stretch the OCU lead to 62-51 with 7 minutes left on the clock.
The Stars hit 17-of-20 from the free throw line in the second half and cruised to the 78-66 victory.
OCU held Rogers State to 37 percent shooting from the floor in the second half and forced 19 turnovers on the game. The Stars outscored the Hillcats 15-4 in second chance points.
MacKenzie led all scorers with 25 points and Jeffries followed with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Gober posted 14 points and seven rebounds and Hall added seven points and eight rebounds.
Silva led 13th-ranked Rogers State with 18 points.
The Stars will return action in the SAC Tournament on Feb. 27-March 2. Regular-season champ OCU will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of Mid-America Christian and USAO in the play-in game.

UNBEATEN SEASONS IN SAC PLAY
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
1982-83–Oklahoma Baptist (29-9, 10-0 SAC)
1984-85–Oklahoma Christian (27-5, 8-0 SAC)
1985-86–Oklahoma Christian (27-8, 10-0 SAC)
1991-92–Southern Nazarene (31-3, 10-0 SAC)
1993-94–x-Southern Nazarene (34-0, 10-0 SAC)
1994-95–x-Southern Nazarene (30-2, 12-0 SAC)
1995-96–x-Southern Nazarene (35-2, 14-0 SAC)
2002-03–Oklahoma City (34-1, 18-0 SAC)
2005-06–Oklahoma City (32-3, 18-0 SAC)
2012-13–Oklahoma City (24-2, 16-0 SAC)
x-national champion

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