Women's Basketball 1/31/2014 3:36:00 PM

OCU at Northwood women's basketball preview

Stars visit Northwood for first time in women's basketball

Autumn Huffman had a season-high 20 points vs. Northwood (Texas) on Jan. 6 in Oklahoma City.

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1
Nutting Arena Building at Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Texas

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University puts its four-game winning streak on the line in a road contest against Northwood (Texas).

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars come off a 77-47 romp past Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena. OCU (13-2, 10-1 SAC) built lopsided advantages in second-chance points (19-3) and rebounding (47-29).
Cara Pugh, a 6-foot-2 senior from Oklahoma City, boosted OCU with 20 points and six 3-pointers. Pugh ranks 15th nationally with a 42.5 percent 3-point shooting percentage. Pugh provides the Stars with 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.20 steals a contest.
Autumn Lau, a 5-10 senior from Mount Wolf, Pa., racked up her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points, 10 rebounds. Lau picks up 14.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. She leads the conference in rebounding. Kayla MacKenzie, a 5-6 senior from Peoria, Ariz., stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, five rebounds, six assists and five steals. MacKenzie averages 13.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.33 steals a game.
OCU ranks second in rebounding margin (plus-14.0) in the NAIA. To see where OCU rates statistically among NAIA Division I, click here.
The Stars stayed at seventh in the latest national ratings. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 171 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 126-11 in league play over the past six-plus seasons.
OCU has gone 2-0 vs. Northwood. The Stars routed Northwood 89-59 on Jan. 6 at Abe Lemons Arena. Autumn Huffman and Ouleymatou Coulibaly fueled the Stars with 20 points each.

ABOUT THE KNIGHTS: Southwestern Christian established its season low for points allowed in a 64-41 win over Northwood on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. Northwood (8-13, 1-10 SAC) struggled shooting from the field at 22.6 percent.
Kayla Robinson, a 5-7 freshman, compiled eight points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Robinson averages 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.79 steals per contest. Lakeisha Blanson, a 5-7 junior, leads Northwood with 12.2 points a game.
Northwood ranks 15th among the NAIA with 214 steals. Northwood had been picked to finish 10th in the SAC by conference coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 106-82 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).
Michael Wells enters his second season as head coach of the Knights. Wells led Northwood to a record of 5-22 in the program's inaugural season. Before taking over at Northwood, Wells spent time as head coach at Lamar (Colo.) and Frank Phillips (Texas) and was an assistant at Texas A&M-Commerce.

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.

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