Women's Basketball 3/7/2014 2:03:00 PM

OCU vs. John Brown women's basketball preview

Stars look to reach SAC Tournament championship game for third year in a row

Kayla MacKenzie ranks third in the Sooner Athletic Conference in assists per game and fifth in steals a game.

Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals
3 p.m. Friday, March 7
Noble Complex in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University meets John Brown (Ark.) in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals for the second year in a row and for the third consecutive year in the tournament overall.
Tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for students.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU held off Southwestern Christian 73-65 on Thursday in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday. The Stars (22-3) hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1:47 to seal the victory.
Cara Pugh, a 6-foot-2 senior from Oklahoma City, boosted OCU with 21 points while shooting 7-for-13 from the field. All four of Pugh's 20-point games have come in her senior season. Pugh produces 10.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.12 steals a contest. Her 40 percent 3-point shooting percentage ranks 22nd in NAIA Division I.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 junior from Spring Valley, Calif., collected 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Neal shared the league player of the year award with Angeleigh Davis of Wayland Baptist (Texas). Neal accumulates 16.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.60 thefts a game. Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-2 junior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, posted 12 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. Coulibaly, a third-team all-SAC selection, snatched the highest individual rebound total of this year's tournament. Coulibaly contributes 13.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.36 steals a game.
OCU ranks third in rebounding margin (plus-12.3) and seventh in scoring margin (20.0 per game) in the NAIA. To see where OCU rates statistically among NAIA Division I, click here.
The Stars moved up to fifth in the latest national rankings. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 176 polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2012.
OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 15 times. The Stars are nine-time SAC Tournament champions with titles won in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. OCU has gone 134-12 in league play over the past seven seasons.
The Stars improved to 39-4 against John Brown all-time with a 65-51 win on Feb. 8 in Siloam Springs, Ark. Neal scored a game-high 18 points.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES: John Brown beat Mid-America Christian 72-60 in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday in Shawnee, Okla. John Brown (24-6) nailed 11 3-pointers to reach double-digits in treys for the 14th time this season.
Lauren Rogers, a 5-4 junior, totaled 22 points, five rebounds and six 3s. Rogers averages 8.2 points and 3.0 rebounds a game. Sierra Shipley, a 5-9 senior, had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Shipley, a first-team all-SAC performer, spearheads John Brown with 16.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.70 steals a game while nailing 43.6 percent from 3-point land.
John Brown, the 20th-rated team in the NAIA, leads the NAIA in 3-pointers (286) and treys per game (9.53).

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell owns a 115-83 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).
Jeff Soderquist is John Brown's winningest women's basketball coach with a 245-275 record in his 17th season. He has taken John Brown to three NAIA Tournament appearances.

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.
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 SAC Tournament game via live stats and video. The video is available for $10 per game and $50 for a tournament pass. Watch the games here or keep up with all the tournament games via live stats by clicking here.

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