Women's Basketball 2/8/2013 11:15:00 AM

OCU vs. John Brown women's basketball preview

Stars to wear pink jerseys to bring awareness to breast cancer

Ravven Brown notched a season-high 17 points against USAO.

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks to push its winning streak to 20 games in a Think-Pink matchup with Sooner Athletic Conference foe John Brown (Ark.). OCU will wear pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness.
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.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU, ranked No. 1 in NAIA Division I women's basketball, secured its 15th consecutive 20-win season with a 104-58 pounding of USAO Thursday at USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla. All 10 Stars broke into the scoring column on the night to push OCU's record to 20-2 overall and 12-0 in SAC play.
Senior Desiree Jeffries led the charge with a season-high 25 points and added seven rebounds against USAO. The 6-foot forward from Oklahoma City is shooting 54 percent from the field and averages 11.8 points per game. Jeffries leads the team with 3.9 assists per game and is 20th in NAIA Division I in assist/turnover ratio at 1.8.
Guard Ravven Brown scored 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe in the 104-58 victory. The 5-foot-6 senior from Duluth, Ga., averages 7.6 points per game and shoots 46 percent from field off the bench. Brown is second on the team in assists per game with 2.9.
Center Cara Pugh fell on rebound shot of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. The 6-foot-2 junior from Oklahoma City score in double figures for the fourth straight game. Pugh averages 7.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 17.3 minutes per game off the bench.
OCU is first in NAIA Division I in scoring margin (33.9) and turnover margin (13.9) and ranks 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 were named co-No. 1 along with Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) in the last NAIA Division I rankings. Defending national champion OCU sat in the top spot for the 46th time and 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 a 35-4 advantage in the all-time series against John Brown. The Stars ran away with a 73-45 victory over the Golden Eagles on Jan. 3 at Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs, Ark.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES: John Brown fell 66-55 to Rogers State on Feb. 4 at the Claremore Expo Center. The Golden Eagles enter the contest with 9-14 record overall and a 4-6 record in SAC play.
Leading scorer Sierra Shipley led John Brown with 14 points in 33 minutes against Roger State. Shipley averages 12.2 points and 1.57 steals per game to lead the Golden Eagles.
Forward Kortni Barenberg notched 12 points and six rebounds in the 66-55 loss. Barenberg averages 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per outing.
Forward Morgan Ankrom tallied eight points and two rebounds off the bench. Ankrom averages 6.9 points and leads the Golden Eagles with 5.7 rebounds per game.
The Golden Eagles are third in NAIA Division I in 3-point field goals made per game (8.1) and free throw percentage (0.76) while guard Anna Parish is first in the nation in free throw percentage (0.92).
John Brown was picked to finish fifth in the SAC by league coaches.
The John Brown University Alumni Association has offered to pay the admission of JBU alumni who come to Saturday's games.

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).
Jeff Soderquist has become John Brown's winningest women's basketball coach with 223 career wins in 15 seasons. He has taken John Brown to three NAIA Tournament appearances.

QUOTABLE: “I was really pleased with our bench tonight. We had several players score in double figures which is nice. All the kids play so hard and step up in different moments.” – Trammell on the bench performance against USAO

THINK PINK: Fans are encouraged to wear their pink at Saturday's game as the OCU women's basketball team joins with the Womens Basketball Coaching Association Play 4Kay initiative. The 2013 Play 4Kay initiative is an opportunity for a nation of coaches to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for research on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
The special commemorative pink jerseys the Stars will wear will be auctioned off in the Leichter Room following the game with the minimum bid of $150.

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 featuring Hall.
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 call the game. 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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