Women's Basketball 2/28/2014 2:08:00 PM

OCU vs. Oklahoma Baptist women's basketball preview

Stars and Lady Bison battle for SAC regular-season title

Kayla MacKenzie averages 12.1 points and 4.5 assists per game for the Stars.

3 p.m. Saturday, March 1
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University will play for the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season title against Oklahoma Baptist in the season finale for both clubs. 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 upended Mid-America Christian 67-47 Thursday at the Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City. OCU (20-3, 17-2 SAC) posted its 16th consecutive 20-win season. Since the start of the streak in 1998-99, OCU has gone 496-62 with 12 SAC regular-season crowns, nine league tournament titles and five national championships.
Junior Yvonte Neal led the Stars' attack with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists against the Lady Evangels. The 5-foot-7 guard from Spring Valley, Calif., leads the Stars with 16.3 points per game and is 13th in NAIA Division I with a free throw percentage of 0.83.
Center Ouleymatou Coulibaly added 10 points and five rebounds in the double-digit win. The 6-foot-2 junior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, is averaging 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest and is sixth in NAIA Division I in with a field goal percentage of 0.56.
Senior Autumn Huffman chipped in with 10 points and shot 100 percent from the field on the night. The 5-foot-9 forward from Midwest City, Okla., is averaging 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
OCU is third in NAIA Division I in rebound margin (12.3), sixth in scoring margin (21.3) and seventh in free throw percentage (0.74). To see how the Stars stack up statistically against the rest of the NAIA, 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 133-12 in league play over the past six-plus seasons.
OCU boasts a 45-23 record in the all-time series with Oklahoma Baptist. The Lady Bison edged the Stars 85-79 on Jan. 16 at the Noble Complex in Shawnee, Okla.

ABOUT THE LADY BISON: Oklahoma Baptist rolled Southwestern Christian 98-69 Thursday at the Noble Complex. The Lady Bison enter Saturday's contest with a record of 25-4 overall and 17-2 in SAC play.
Jalissa Council put up a game-high 26 points and snared eight rebounds against Southwestern Christian. The 6-foot-1 center averages a team-leading 15.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for the Lady Bison.
Janell Beacham followed with 15 points and seven boards in the double-digit victory. The 5-foot-9 guard is averaging 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per outing.
Charity Fowler added eight points and five rebounds in 22 minutes of action. The 5-foot-8 guard averages 12.5 points and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per contest.
Sixth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist is ranked in the top 10 in NAIA Division I in five statistical categories. The Lady Bison were expected to take second in the SAC by conference coaches.

POSTSEASON IMPLICATIONS: The winner of Saturday's contest will clinch the SAC regular-season title outright and the No. 1 seed in the SAC Tournament. OCU and Oklahoma Baptist have won or shared the past six conference regular-season crowns. The SAC Tournament is March 5-8 in Shawnee, Okla.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 113-83 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).
Casi Bays has gone 39-18 since becoming Oklahoma Baptist women's basketball coach last season. Bays (nee' Cox) had been assistant under the previous head coach, John McCullough, as well as head girls coach at Bridge Creek and Newcastle. Bays had become a two-time all-American, piling up 1,879 points during her playing career at Oklahoma Baptist.

ABOUT THE SAC TOURNAMENT: The nation's premier NAIA basketball conference stages its postseason tournament at the Noble Complex in Shawnee, Okla., on March 5-8. NAIA Division I Tournament berths will be at stake in the Sooner Athletic Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments.

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.

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