Women's Basketball 1/8/2014 3:17:00 PM

OCU vs. John Brown women's basketball preview

Stars face John Brown in matchup of top-25 squads in NAIA women's basketball

Markeisha Johnson contributes 4.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.71 steals per game.

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University takes on John Brown (Ark.) in a clash of top-25 teams and the premier matchup in the Sooner Athletic Conference this week.
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. For the OCU athletics visitors guide, click here.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars cruised to an 89-59 win over Northwood (Texas) on Monday at Abe Lemons Arena. OCU (6-1, 3-0 SAC) used a 14-0 run to leave behind a 20-20 tie and reeled off a 17-0 run to create a 51-23 second-half advantage.
Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-foot-2 junior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, supplied OCU with 20 points, 12 rebounds and two assists. She notched her third double-double of the season and first since Nov. 28 against Langston. Coulibaly generates 15.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.00 steal a game while sinking 58.7 percent from the field.
Autumn Huffman, a 5-9 senior from Midwest City, Okla., produced 20 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Huffman surpassed her previous career-high scoring output of 16 points against Langston earlier this season. Huffman averages 10.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.43 steals per game. Cara Pugh, a 6-2 senior from Oklahoma City, scored 14 points and nailed three 3-pointers. Pugh chips in 10.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a game while shooting a team-high 44 percent from 3-point range. She needs four points to reach 500 career points.
OCU ranks third in the NAIA in scoring offense (87.6 points per game), rebounding (49.9), offensive rebounding (20.4 per game) and rebounding margin (plus-15.0). To see where OCU rates against the NAIA statistically, click here.
The Stars moved to third in the latest national rankings. OCU has been rated in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 168 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 37-4 against John Brown throughout the years. The Stars ousted John Brown from the SAC Tournament in the semifinals 58-34 on March 1, 2013 in Shawnee, Okla., in the most recent meeting. OCU made the SAC Tournament championship game for the 12th time in 13 years.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES: John Brown prevailed 62-47 over Texas Wesleyan on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. John Brown (11-1, 3-0 SAC) won for the ninth consecutive time to tie a program record and to get off to the best start in program history.
Kortni Barenberg, a 6-foot senior, turned in 15 points, eight rebounds and three treys. Barenburg became SAC player of the week after averaging 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Barenburg posts 11.3 points and 4.9 rebounds a game. Sierra Shipley, a 5-9 senior, had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. Shipley averages 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.58 steals per game.
John Brown, which holds the 16th spot in the rankings, leads the NAIA with 10.08 3-pointers made per game. John Brown has been pegged to finish third in the conference race according to the SAC coaches' preseason poll.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 99-81 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).
Jeff Soderquist is John Brown's winningest women's basketball coach with a 238-272 record in his 17th season. He has taken John Brown to three NAIA Tournament appearances.

QUOTABLE: "Autumn Huffman brought a lot of energy. I was really proud of Ouleymatou. She needed that." – Trammell on Coulibaly's and Huffman's efforts on Monday

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. 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 audio, stats or video for the games, 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.

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