Women's Basketball 3/16/2013 7:57:00 AM

OCU vs. Lee women's basketball preview

Stars advance to NAIA Tournament quarterfinals for 13th time in 15 years

Desiree Jeffries became a three-time all-Sooner Athletic Conference choice.

NAIA Division I Tournament
1 p.m. CST Saturday, March 16
Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University makes its fifth consecutive national-tournament quarterfinals appearance squaring off with Lee (Tenn.) in the 33rd annual NAIA Division I Tournament.
OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2012 and reached the finals in 2003, 2004 and 2005. OCU has made its 19th trip to the NAIA Tournament and 16th in a row.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU held on for a 56-54 win over 18th-ranked Shawnee State (Ohio) on Friday in the NAIA Tournament's second round. The Stars (28-3) reached the NAIA's Elite Eight for the 13th time in 15 years.
Lauren Gober, a 6-foot-2 senior from Newcastle, Okla., powered OCU with 16 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Gober, the co-Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year, tallies 15.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.32 steals a game along with a 39 percent 3-point shooting clip. A two-time all-American, Gober has amassed 1,678 points, 706 rebounds, 164 assists, 240 steals and 94 blocked shots while nailing 299 3-pointers for the most 3s in OCU history.
Desiree Jeffries, a 6-foot senior from Oklahoma City, picked up 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. She has 1,046 points, 540 rebounds, 321 assists and 165 steals in her three-year OCU career. Jeffries, a first-team all-SAC performer, accrues 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.71 steals per contest. Kayla MacKenzie, a 5-6 junior from Peoria, Ariz., had seven points and four steals. MacKenzie averages 10.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.00 steals a game.
OCU has NAIA Division I's best turnover margin (plus-13.19) in 2012-13. The Stars rank among the NAIA's top five in nine team statistical categories, including second in average margin of victory (31.26 points per game). Individually, Katie Hall ranks fourth in the NAIA with 4.8 offensive rebounds a game. To see how the Stars rank among national statistics, click here.
The Stars stayed at No. 2 for the fourth consecutive week in the last NAIA Division I rankings before the national tournament. OCU has been listed in all 164 polls since 1999-2000. OCU captured its 14th SAC regular-season championship this season.
OCU and Lee will meet for the first time ever in women's basketball.

ABOUT THE LADY FLAMES: Seventh-ranked Lee rallied past 23rd-ranked Carroll (Mont.) 63-49 on Friday in the tournament second round. Lee (32-2) won its 15th in a row, erasing a 39-36 deficit with 11 minutes left by going on a 27-10 run.
Hollie German, a 5-8 junior, propelled Lee with 21 points and four rebounds. German, the Southern States Conference player of the year, averages 19.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.62 steals a game. She was the college-division women's basketball CoSIDA academic all-American of the year. Jenna Adams, a 6-2 sophomore, had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Adams supplies Lee with 14.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.35 steals per contest.
Lee tops the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game (28.9) while ranking second in 3-pointers (298), treys per game (8.77) and average rebounding margin (plus-11.1).

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell has a 93-79 college head-coaching record in 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).
Marty Rowe has guided Lee to a 258-51 record in his ninth season as coach. Rowe has an overall coaching record of 389-116 in 15 years as a coach, having spent six years at Brescia (Ky.). His squads have posted 20-win seasons and national-tournament appearances in 13 consecutive years.

QUOTABLE: "We're second in the country in 3-pointers made so we're going to shoot it a lot. That's how we're built, and we had our legs back underneath us in the second half and were able to hit a few shots." – Rowe

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.

ON THE AIR: The first 30 games of the tournament will be video-streamed live on the NAIA web site, costing $9.95 per day or $29.95 for a tournament pass. Click here for details. Every national-tournament game can be followed through live stats.

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