Women's Basketball 1/24/2014 3:15:00 PM

OCU at USAO women's basketball preview

Stars look for third straight win in Chickasha, Okla.

Autumn Lau averages a team-leading 8.8 rebounds per game.

3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25
USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University finishes up the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play with a road contest against USAO.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU made a school record-breaking 20 3-pointers against Texas Wesleyan and smoked the Lady Rams 96-61 Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars, ranked No. 7 in NAIA Division I, improved to 11-2 overall and 8-1 in SAC play with the win.
Senior Cara Pugh hit eight 3-pointers to tie the OCU single-game record for made triples and led the Stars' offensive explosion with 24 points and six rebounds. The 6-foot-2 center from Oklahoma City is 11th in NAIA Division I with a 3-point field goal percentage of 0.44. Pugh is averaging 9.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Fellow senior Kayla MacKenzie paced OCU with 29 points and six assists while knocking down seven 3-point jumpers of her own. The 5-foot-6 guard from Peoria, Ariz., leads the Stars with 4.5 assists per contest. MacKenzie is averaging 13.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
Center Ouleymatou Coulibaly added 16 points on 5-of-8 from the field and snared seven rebounds against Texas Wesleyan. The 6-foot-2 junior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, is sixth in NAIA Division I with a field goal percentage of 0.54. Coulibaly is averaging 13.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per outing.
The Stars are ranked third in NAIA Division I in total rebounding margin (13.8) and fifth in total rebounds per game (47.4). To see how OCU stacks up with the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars moved to seventh in the newest national rankings. OCU has been rated in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 170 polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2012.
SAC coaches predicted the Stars would win the league title. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 14 times, including last season when the Stars became the 10th SAC team to go unbeaten in league play. OCU has gone 123-11 in league play over the past six-plus seasons.
OCU boasts an all-time record of 45-3 against USAO. In the last meeting between the two, the Stars smacked the Lady Drovers 104-58 on Feb. 7, 2013.

ABOUT THE LADY DROVERS: USAO fell 78-71 on the road to Southwestern Christian at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium in Oklahoma City. The loss dropped the Lady Drovers to 3-8 overall and 2-6 in SAC play.
Rashelle Carr led USAO with 20 points, four assists and three rebounds. The 5-foot-6 guard is averaging 13.1 points per contest.
Paige Pulliam dropped in 16 points and corralled 10 rebounds against Southwestern Christian. The 5-foot-7 guard is averaging 9.5 points and is the team leader in rebounds (5.8), assists (2.7) and steals (2.46) per game.
Sami Martin chipped in with 11 points and came away with four steals and three assists. The 5-foot-9 guard leads the Lady Drovers in scoring with 13.7 points per outing.
USAO has been slated to finish eighth in the SAC by league coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 104-82 record in six seasons as a college head coach. She reeled off a 28-4 record and became conference coach of the year in her first season as OCU head coach in 2012-13. Trammell returned to OCU last season after serving as Western State (Colo.) head coach from 2007-12. As a head coach, Trammell has coached three all-Americans and 17 all-conference selections, including the co-SAC player of the year, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player of the year and RMAC West Division freshman of the year. Trammell was assistant coach at OCU from 2005-07. As an assistant at OCU from 2005-07, 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).
Jennifer Hayden is in the midst of her second season at the USAO helm. She owns a head-coaching record of 42-71 including two seasons starting the University of the Southwest (N.M.) program. Hayden previously served as assistant coach at Sul Ross State.

QUOTABLE: "The girls are excited about the win. We have to carry this momentum into Saturday. We have to get this road win." – Trammell on OCU's win over Texas Wesleyan

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Help OCU win an NAIA contest and gain more followers on social media in 2013-14. 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.

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 listen to the action, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
USAO will provide live stats and video for the contest here.

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