6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Feede Center
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University plays host to Sooner Athletic Conference opponent USAO. The Stars will wear pink uniforms as part of OCU's Play4Kay games this week. The annual Play 4Kay women's college basketball event helps raise money and awareness in the fight against women's cancers.
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: OCU trounced St. Gregory's 103-54 Tuesday at Abe Lemons Arena. The win moved the Stars to 17-3 overall and 14-2 in SAC play. The Stars currently sit one game behind Oklahoma Baptist in the SAC standings in second place.
Guard Yvonte Neal paced the Stars' offense with 21 points, six assists and five rebounds. The 5-foot-7 junior from Spring Valley, Calif., leads OCU in scoring with 16.6 points per game to go along with 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per outing.
Junior Ouleymatou Coulibaly added 19 points on 70 percent shooting from the floor. The 6-foot-2 center from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, is averaging 13.3 points per game and is 13th in NAIA Division I in field goal percentage at 54 percent.
Senior Kayla MacKenzie, of Peoria, Ariz., added 17 points, seven assists and four steals against the Lady Cavaliers. The 5-foot-6 guard is averaging 13.2 points per game while leading OCU in assists (4.5) and steals (2.3) per contest.
OCU is third in NAIA Division I in total rebounding margin (12.2) and fifth in scoring offense (83.3) and scoring margin (20.9). To see how the Stars match up against the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars held the No. 6 spot in the last national ratings. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 174 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 130-12 in league play over the past six-plus seasons. The Stars have been dominant at home with a 163-8 record at Abe Lemons Arena since 2002-03.
OCU owns a 46-3 record in the all-time series with USAO. In the last meeting between the two, The Stars wrecked the Lady Drovers 86-55 at USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla.
ABOUT THE LADY DROVERS: USAO fell to John Brown (Ark.) 60-46 on Feb. 15 at USAO Fieldhouse. The loss dropped the Lady Drovers to 5-14 overall and 4-12 in SAC play.
Amber Chaney led USAO with 14 points and five rebounds against the Golden Eagles. The 5-foot-8 forward averages 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game and has topped double digits in scoring in her last four games.
Sami Martin notched 10 points and six rebounds for the Lady Drovers in the loss. The 5-foot-9 guard averages 12.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game this season.
Leading scorer and rebounder Rashelle Carr provided eight points and five boards in 34 minutes off the bench. The 5-foot-6 guard averages 12.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per outing.
The Lady Drovers are 16th in NAIA Division I in made 3-point field goals per game at 7.1. USAO has been slated to finish eighth in the SAC by league coaches.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 110-83 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).
Jennifer Hayden is in the midst of her second season at the USAO helm. She owns a head-coaching record of 37-73 including two seasons starting the University of the Southwest (N.M.) program. Hayden previously served as assistant coach at Sul Ross State.
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.
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 provide the play-by-play. 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.
