Women's Basketball 1/5/2014 7:07:00 PM

OCU vs. Northwood women's basketball preview

Stars take on new SAC member Northwood in game originally scheduled for Dec. 7

Albany Anderson is averaging 7.2 minutes per game with the Stars this season.

6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University continues Sooner Athletic Conference play with a home contest against first-year league member Northwood (Texas).
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU, ranked No. 2 in NAIA Division I women's basketball, improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in SAC play with a 78-68 victory over Wayland Baptist (Texas) Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Junior Yvonte Neal led the OCU charge with 19 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes of action. The 5-foot-7 guard from Spring Valley, Calif., is averaging 17.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.17 steals per game for the Stars this season. Neal's 17.6 points per game is tops on the team and in the SAC.
Fellow guard Kayla MacKenzie followed with 18 points, five assists and five rebounds against the Flying Queens. The 5-foot-6 senior from Peoria, Ariz., scored 12 of her 18 points from the free-throw line and has now scored in double figures in OCU's last four contests. MacKenzie is averaging 12.5 points per game and leads the Stars in assists (3.5) and steals (2.33) per game.
Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a junior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, added 18 points, on 57 percent shooting from the floor, and nine boards Thursday. The 6-foot-2 center is averaging 15.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per outing this season. Coulibaly is shooting 60 percent from the field this season and is ranked second in NAIA Division I in field goal percentage.
OCU is ranked first in offensive rebounds per game (21.0) and third in total rebound margin (15.8) and is ranked in the top 10 in seven statistical categories. To see how the Stars stack up against the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars retained the No. 2 spot in the newest national rankings, picking up one of a possible seven first-place votes. OCU has made the top 25 in all 167 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 owns a 1-0 advantage in the all-time series with Northwood. The Stars mauled the Knights 102-32 the only meeting between the two sides on Nov. 23, 2012.

ABOUT THE KNIGHTS: Northwood fell 89-55 to No. 9 Oklahoma Baptist Saturday at the Noble Complex in Shawnee, Okla. The Knights moved to 7-5 overall and 0-2 in SAC play with the loss.
B'ria Wagner led the Knights' charge with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. The 5-foot-7 guard leads Northwood with 12.0 points and 3.3 assists per contest. Kayla Robinson added nine points and four rebounds off the bench for Northwood. The 5-foot-7 guard averages 9.1 points per game this season and has scored in double figures six times this season. Lakeisha Blanson chipped in with seven points against the Lady Bison. The 5-foot-7 guard averages 11.17 points per game is averaging 13.5 points per outing in conference play.
Northwood is ranked sixth in NAIA Division I in scoring margin (27.0) and total rebound margin (15.5). The Knights have been slated to finish 10th in the SAC by league coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 98-81 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.
Know when the game is happening by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400.

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 serves as play-by-play man. To access the live audio, stats or video 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. A women's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' 2013-14 home games costs $29.95, while a 2013-14 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

Print Friendly Version