Women's Basketball 12/8/2014 4:02:00 PM

OCU vs. Evangel women’s basketball preview

Stars enter on five-game winning streak

Kara Partridge averages 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.

6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Top-ranked Oklahoma City University puts its five-game winning streak on the line against visiting Evangel (Mo.).
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. If the Stars score 70 points, fans will get a prize from Raising Cane's. For the OCU athletics visitors guide, click here.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars slipped past Wayland Baptist (Texas) 86-74 on Saturday in Abe Lemons Arena. OCU (5-1, 2-0) held off a surge from Wayland Baptist to remain unbeaten in conference play.
Rateska Brown, a 5-foot-6 guard from Alvin, S.C., led the Stars with 28 points, nine steals and five assists. Brown has made at least six 3-pointers in three straight games. She ranks No. 1 in NAIA Division I in 3-pointers made per game with 4.5 and ranks second in points per game with 25.2.
Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot junior from Dublin, Calif., provided OCU with a season-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Kruschke contributes 4.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-2 senior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, added 16 points and grabbed four rebounds. Coulibaly averages 18.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Oklahoma City ranks second nationally with a 47.9 percent team field-goal percentage. 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.
OCU has a 6-0 overall record against Evangel. The Stars clobbered Evangel 86-53 on Nov. 3, 2012 in Abe Lemons Arena. The contest marked OCU's first regular-season game under coach Latricia Trammell.

ABOUT THE CRUSADERS: Evangel (3-4, 2-0) took down conference opponent Peru State (Neb.) 79-71 on Saturday in Peru, Neb. The Crusaders shot 84.4 percent from the free-throw line and dominated the rebounding 32-19.
Allison Swanson, a 6-3 sophomore, was the game's leading scorer with 27 points, hitting on 11-of-13 field-goals. Swanson also pulled down seven rebounds. She in second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.5 points per game and second in rebounding with 6.3 boards per game. Last season Swanson won Heart of America Athletic Conference freshman of the year. Taylor Longley, a 5-6 sophomore, contributed 24 points and seven rebounds. Tongley is the Crusaders' leading scorer averaging 15.0 points per game.
Evangel was picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches' preseason poll.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has a 60-9 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 125-85 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.
Leon Neal enters his 21st season as head coach of the Crusaders. Neal needs just one victory to reach 400 career wins as a collegiate head coach. He has been named Heart of America conference Coach of the Year six times in his career and brings a career record of 395-246 (.616) into this season. Neal has guided the Evangel women's program to nine NAIA national tournament appearances and two NAIA Final Fours. He was inducted into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

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: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio of the Stars' games. To follow the game via live audio, stats and video, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will call the game.
The live audio and stats will be provided free of charge, while the cost to see the video will be $7.95. A men's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' home games this season costs $29.95, while a 2014-15 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#24 Catherine Kruschke: F; 6' 0"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

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

#24 Catherine Kruschke
: 6' 0"; Junior
: F

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#3 Rateska Brown

#24 Catherine Kruschke

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#3 Rateska Brown

#24 Catherine Kruschke