Women's Basketball 3/20/2014 9:36:00 PM

OCU vs. Montana State-Northern women's basketball preview

Stars look to tie for second in NAIA Division I Tournament victories

Autumn Huffman has made 56 career starts for OCU, including all 27 of her appearances this season.

NAIA Division I Tournament
11:30 a.m. CDT Friday, March 21
Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University aims to move past the round of 16 as Montana State-Northern stands in the way.
OCU owns national championships won in 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2012. OCU has advanced to the national tournament for the 20th time and 17th year in a row. OCU's record in national-tournament play stands at 57-13.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars advanced past the tournament first round with a 79-71 victory over Langston on Wednesday in Frankfort, Ky. OCU (23-4) stand one win away from tying Southern Nazarene for second place in NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament wins.
Kayla MacKenzie, a 5-foot-6 senior from Peoria, Ariz., spurred OCU with 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists. MacKenzie has posted 1,003 points, 264 rebounds, 218 assists and 419 3-pointers as a Star. MacKenzie provides the Stars with 12.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.07 steals a game.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 junior from Spring Valley, Calif., chipped in 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Neal, the SAC co-player of the year and newcomer of the year, accrues 16.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.59 steals a game. Autumn Huffman, a 5-9 senior from Midwest City, Okla., had 13 points, 10 rebounds and two steals on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. Huffman averages 9.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.85 steals a game.
OCU ranks third among NAIA Division I in rebounding margin (plus-11.9) and seventh in scoring margin (18.7 points per game). To see how OCU stacks up statistically with the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars retained the No. 5 spot in the newest national rankings. OCU has made the top 25 in all 177 polls since 1999-2000.

ABOUT THE SKYLIGHTS: MSU-Northern sent Columbia (Mo.) home with a 56-55 win Wednesday in the tournament. Rachelle Bennett provided MSU-Northern (22-9) the winning point on a free throw with 14 seconds remaining. The Skylights erased a five-point deficit with 4:34 left.
A'Jha Edwards, a 6-5 junior, fueled MSU-Northern with 17 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Edwards averages 13.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.03 blocked shots per contest. Kacie McKeon, a 5-4 sophomore, had 14 points and four 3-pointers. McKeon contributes 5.5 points and 1.6 rebounds a game.
Montana State-Northern, ranked 21st, allows an NAIA-best 52.9 points per game.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 116-84 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).
Chris Mouat has guided Montana State-Northern to a 166-120 record in nine years as head coach. Mouat entered the season 25th among active NAIA women's basketball coaches in wins.

STAYING IN OKC? Come to the Leichter Room above Abe Lemons Arena on the OCU campus to watch the game.

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Sign up to get text alerts from OCU Athletics by visiting the SMS Text Alerts Signup.
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: Fans can follow each NAIA Tournament game via live stats and video. The video is available for $9.95 per day and $24.95 for an all-tournament pass. Watch the games here or keep up with the live stats here.

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