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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
Home Of Champions|73 National Championships
Catherine Krushke

Women's Basketball

OCU in Oklahoma Baptist Holiday Classic women’s basketball preview

Stars rank second in the NAIA with 22 assists per game

Catherine Kruschke grabbed eight rebounds against Our Lady of the Lake (Texas).
5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28
vs. Cumberlands (Ky.)
1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29
vs. MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
Noble Complex in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Top-ranked Oklahoma City University travels to Oklahoma Baptist to play a pair of teams that were in last year's NAIA Division I Tournament in the Oklahoma Baptist Holiday Classic. The Stars will play Cumberlands (Ky.), then MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.).

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU (1-1) collected its first win of the season 108-83 against 11th-ranked Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) on Friday. The Stars scored 100 points for the ninth time in three seasons under coach Latricia Trammell.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-foot-7 senior, led all scorers with 31 points, also adding three points and three rebounds. Neal ranks sixth in NAIA Division I with 21.5 points per game.
Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-2 senior, and Markeisha Johnson, a 5-8 junior, both added double-doubles for the Stars. Coulibaly snagged 14 rebounds and scored 10 points. Coulibaly averages 15.0 points and 8.5 rebounds. Johnson grabbed 11 rebounds and 10 points. Johnson posts 12.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
Oklahoma City's 46.5 field-goal shooting percentage ranks fifth in the NAIA. To see how the Stars rate statistically among the NAIA, click here.
The Stars are ranked No. 1 in the preseason NAIA rankings. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 179 polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014.
SAC coaches predicted the Stars would win the league title. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 15 times, including the last five in a row.
The Stars have not played either Cumberlands or MidAmerica Nazarene in women's basketball.

ABOUT THE PATRIOTS: Cumberlands (4-2) defeated St. Catharine (Ky.) 76-63 on Saturday in St. Catharine, Ky. The Patriots forced St. Catharine into 22 turnovers and took a 15-1 advantage on second-chance points. Cumberlands also held a 35-28 rebound advantage.
LaTeesha DeLoach, a 5-6 junior, led all scorers with 26 points and eight assists. Brooke Forsythe, a 6-3 senior, added 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Patriots received votes in the preseason NAIA rankings. Cumberlands was picked to finish fifth in the preseason Mid-South Conference poll.

ABOUT THE PIONEERS: MidAmerica Nazarene (6-0) upended seventh-ranked John Brown (Ark.) on Nov. 12 in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Pioneers held John Brown to 36.4 percent shooting from the floor and a stingy 19.0 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Daria Sprew, a 5-11 senior, led all scorers with 15 points and added nine rebounds and two steals. Martyna Kudziela, a 6-foot senior, led the rebound battle with 12, adding four points and two blocks.
MidAmerica Nazarene is ranked 16th in the preseason NAIA poll and was picked to finish second in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has a 56-9 record in her third season as OCU head coach. She guided the Stars to a 16-0 record in conference play in 2012-13. She was OCU assistant to Rob Edmisson in 2005-07, then became Western State (Colo.) head coach from 2007-12. Trammell's college head-coaching record is 121-85 in her eighth year. 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. 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.
Melissa Irvin enters her 18th season as head coach of Cumberlands. Irvin led the Patriots to a 19-11 record last season and made it to the NAIA Tournament. Irvin has a 371-170 career record.
Jon Lewis enters his third season as head coach of MidAmerica Nazarene. In two years at the helm of the program, Lewis won two consecutive conference championships, along with two consecutive conference tournament championships and two national tournament appearances. Last season the team finished with the best winning percentage in school history, 30-3 (.909), and set a school record with 20 consecutive wins.

QUOTABLE: "We play two caliber teams, and it's only going to make us better going into conference. I scheduled it this way because we have to play our best every single game. If we don't we are going to struggle. We are going to have to make every possession count." -- Trammell

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.
Fans can sign up to receive OCU Athletics SMS text message alerts, including the latest score updates and headlines from the Stars, by going here.
Fans can sign up to receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
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 or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.

ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. To follow the games via live audio, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will give the play-by-play.
Oklahoma Baptist will provide a live video stream and live statsof each of the games in the event. Go here to follow the games.
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Players Mentioned

Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

C
6' 2"
Senior
Markeisha Johnson

#23 Markeisha Johnson

F
5' 8"
Junior
Yvonte Neal

#22 Yvonte Neal

G
5' 7"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

6' 2"
Senior
C
Markeisha Johnson

#23 Markeisha Johnson

5' 8"
Junior
F
Yvonte Neal

#22 Yvonte Neal

5' 7"
Senior
G