Women's Basketball 2/4/2013 4:04:00 PM

OCU at Mid-America Christian women's basketball preview

Stars visit cross-town SAC foe Mid-America

Kayla MacKenzie averages 10.7 points off the bench for the Stars.

6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University puts its NAIA-best 17-game win streak on the line in a Sooner Athletic Conference contest with Mid-America Christian.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU knocked off top-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) 74-60 Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The win moved the Stars to 18-2 overall and 10-0 in SAC play. OCU is undefeated against NAIA competition and 6-0 against ranked NAIA opponents.
Center Katie Hall led the Stars with 19 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and two blocks against the Lady Chaps. The 6-foot senior from Hazleton, Idaho, posted her fifth straight double-double and her eighth of the season. Hall is first on the team with 9.6 rebounds per game and is fifth in NAIA Division I with 4.8 offensive rebounds per game.
Senior Jessica Lankston added 15 points, six assists and six steals in the 74-60 victory. The 5-foot-2 guard from Kansas, Okla., leads the Stars with 2.33 steals per game. Lankston is first in NAIA Division I in free throw percentage shooting 92 percent from the charity stripe.
Six-foot-2 Cara Pugh, of Oklahoma City, chipped in 15 points on 60 percent shooting from the floor. The junior center posted double-digit points for the second straight outing. Pugh averages 6.5 points and 4.2 rebounds on the season.
OCU is first in NAIA Division I in scoring margin (33.3) and turnover margin (13.3) and is in the top-5 in eight statistical categories. To see how the Stars stack up against the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars took the third spot in the most recent NAIA Division I rankings. Defending national champion OCU has been listed in all 160 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 an 11-0 advantage in the all-times series against Mid-America Christian. The Stars topped the Lady Evangels 75-49 in their last meeting on Jan. 22 at Abe Lemons Arena.

ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian fell 55-49 to Wayland Baptist (Texas) Saturday at the Gualke Activity Center. The Lady Evangels enter the matchup at 12-9 and 3-7 in SAC play.
Kourtni Williams paced the Lady Evangels with 22 points and 13 rebounds in 31 minutes. Williams leads the team and the SAC with 17.7 points per game.
Sarah Martin pitched in six points in the 55-49 loss. Marin averages 8.5 points per game and is 16th in NAIA Division I with a 0.40 3-point percentage.
Parris Price tallied six points and five assists against the Flying Queens. Price averages 13.1 points per outing and leads the team with 2.43 steals per game.
Mid-America Christian is ninth in NAIA Division I in free throw percentage (0.72) and 16th in 3-point field goals made per game (6.6). The Lady Evangels were picked to finish eighth in the SAC by league coaches.

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-RMAC 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 Denton Bill Ryan High School (Texas).
Roman Owen enters his third season as head coach of the Lady Evangels and owns a 39-44 record. Owen, a former assistant for the OCU men's program, scored a program-high 2,802 points and garnered the Pete Maravich Award playing for Southwestern Christian. He also leads the men's golf team at Mid-America Christian.

QUOTABLE: “That's one thing I've preached is their team chemistry. They're unselfish, but they know when to take the shot. They know when to give it to a teammate to finish the play.” – Trammell

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 will provide the play-by-play. To access the live audio, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
Mid-America Christian will provide live stats for the contest here.

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