Women's Basketball 2/26/2014 4:17:00 PM

OCU at Mid-America Christian women's basketball preview

Stars look to keep alive string of 20-win seasons

Markeisha Johnson scored a season-high 12 points vs. USAO on Feb. 20.

6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University aims to run its streak of 20-victory seasons to 16 in a row when the Stars visit Mid-America Christian.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU nudged past Texas Wesleyan 60-51 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Stars (19-3, 16-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) scored 34 points in the paint in forging a tie for the SAC lead with Oklahoma Baptist.
Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-foot-2 junior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, propelled OCU with 17 points and seven rebounds. She nailed 6 of her 8 shots from the field. Coulibaly records 13.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.46 steals per contest.
Autumn Lau, a 5-10 senior from Mount Wolf, Pa., fueled the Stars with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals vs. Texas Wesleyan. She is the top rebounder in the SAC. Lau averages 13.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.14 blocked shots per game. Autumn Huffman, a 5-9 senior from Midwest City, Okla., chipped in 11 points and four steals while shooting 5-for-7 from the floor. Huffman compiles 9.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.05 steals a contest.
OCU ranks third in rebounding margin (plus-12.2) in the NAIA. To see where OCU rates statistically among NAIA Division I, click here.
The Stars improved to fifth in the last national rankings. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 175 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 132-12 in league play over the past six-plus seasons.
OCU owns a 14-0 record vs. Mid-America Christian. The Stars knocked off Mid-America 79-69 on Jan. 18 at Abe Lemons Arena. Neal spearheaded OCU with 23 points and six rebounds.

ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian stomped St. Gregory's 90-75 on Saturday in Shawnee, Okla. Mid-America Christian (17-10, 11-7 SAC) won its fifth consecutive game.
Ashlee Ferguson, a 5-6 junior, produced 40 points, hitting 15 of 25 shots from the field. She fell one point shy of the single-game school record for scoring while setting marks for made field goals and 3-pointers (nine). Ferguson provides Mid-America with 16.0 points and 3.4 rebounds a game. Cheyenne Been, a 5-6 freshman, had 12 points. Been averages 10.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per outing.
Mid-America Christian's 8.85 3-pointers made per game rates second nationally. Mid-America had been picked to finish seventh in the league according to the preseason SAC poll.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 112-83 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).
Marcus Moeller is in the midst of his first season at the helm of the Lady Evangels. Moeller served as assistant coach at Mid-America Christian to Roman Owen each of the past two seasons before taking over as head coach. Prior to joining the coaching staff at Mid-America Christian, he spent three seasons as an assistant at Missouri Southern 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. To listen to the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will have the call.
Mid-America Christian will provide live video and live stats for the contest.

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