Women's Basketball 12/31/2014 9:13:00 AM

OCU at Lubbock Christian women's basketball preview

Stars have won in last two encounters with Lubbock Christian in Lubbock, Texas

Cara Neighbors has contributed 13 points, 13 rebounds and six assists this season.

2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 1
Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock, Texas

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University faces Lubbock Christian (Texas) in a special New Year's Day engagement.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City pummeled Evangel (Mo.) 81-52 on Dec. 9 at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (6-1) sank 31 of its 55 field-goal attempts to post a season-high 56.4 shooting percentage.
Rateska Brown, a 5-foot-6 guard from Alvin, S.C., spearheaded OCU with 26 points, six rebounds and five 3-pointers against Evangel. She nailed 10 of 12 shots from the floor. Brown tops the NAIA in scoring average (25.3) and treys per game (4.57). She adds 4.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.71 steals a contest.
Janay Borum, a 5-2 senior from Upper Marlsboro, Md., supplied the Stars with 17 points, four assists and three steals while shooting 6-for-8 from the field. Borum averages 9.1 points, 6.7 assists and 3.14 steals per game. She ranks second nationally in assists per game and 10th in thefts a game. Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-2 senior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds. Coulibaly chips in 18.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while ranking ninth in the NAIA in field-goal percentage (55.3 percent).
OCU leads NAIA Division I in shooting percentage at 48.9 percent as a team. To see where the Stars rank statistically among the NAIA, click here.
The Stars moved to second in the first regular-season NAIA rankings of 2014-15. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 180 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.
OCU puts its 39-9 record against Lubbock Christian at stake. Lubbock Christian got the best of the Stars in the last meeting, winning 77-64 on March 2, 2013 in Shawnee, Okla., to reel in the SAC Tournament title. OCU won 79-68 over Lubbock Christian on Jan. 10, 2013 in its most recent visit to the Rip Griffin Center.
The last time OCU played on New Year's Day, the Stars beat Rogers State 87-72 on Jan. 1, 2011 at Abe Lemons Arena.

ABOUT THE LADY CHAPS: Lubbock Christian prevailed 70-62 over St. Mary's (Texas) on Dec. 20 in Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock Christian (8-3, 2-0 Heartland Conference) increased its conference win streak to 25 games for the longest active victory string in NCAA Division II.
Haley Burton, a 5-8 senior, provided Lubbock Christian with 20 points and nine assists against St. Mary's. Burton leads her team with 13.4 points and 6.5 assists a game. Kellyn Schneider, a 6-4 junior, had nine points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Schneider averages 7.5 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.45 blocks a game.
Lubbock Christian has been favored to capture the league title according to the preseason Heartland Conference poll of coaches and sports information directors.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has a 61-9 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 126-85 in her eighth year. Trammell has coached six all-Americans and 23 all-conference selections, including two SAC players of the year, an SAC newcomer 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.
Steve Gomez has guided the Lubbock Christian to a 267-100 career record in his 12th season at the helm. Lubbock Christian went 25-1 with a 20-0 conference record last season for the program's first unbeaten season in league play.

QUOTABLE: "I'm just so proud of the young ladies who have embraced the adversity and fought extremely hard in all seven games. I could sit here, pull up a chair and say something positive about every one of my players who have contributed. I call them blue-collar workers." – 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.

ON THE AIR: Lubbock Christian will provide fans the ability to follow the game via live stats, audio and video by clicking here.

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Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly: C; 6' 2"; Senior

#3 Rateska Brown: G; 5' 6"; Senior

#11 Janay Borum: G; 5' 2"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly
: 6' 2"; Senior
: C

#3 Rateska Brown
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

#11 Janay Borum
: 5' 2"; Senior
: G

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#3 Rateska Brown

#11 Janay Borum

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#3 Rateska Brown

#11 Janay Borum