Women's Basketball 1/7/2015 1:02:00 PM

OCU at USAO women's basketball preview

Stars enter Thursday on seven-game winning streak

Albany Anderson has made six consecutive starts for the Stars.

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8
USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University returns to Sooner Athletic Conference play against USAO on Thursday.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City snuck past Lubbock Christian (Texas) 85-81 on Thursday in Lubbock, Texas. The Stars (7-1, 2-0 SAC) erased a 10-point deficit with 3:22 to go in the game to capture the victory.
Rateska Brown, a 5-foot-6 guard from Alvin, S.C., was the game's leading scorer with 21 points and added six rebounds and five assists. Brown leads the NAIA Division I in scoring average (24.8) and 3-point field-goals per game (4.38).
Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 senior from Spring Valley, Calif., provided OCU with 19 points, five rebounds and four steals. Neal averages 20.7 points per game and shoots 90 percent (9-of-10) from the free-throw line. Marisha Wallace, a 6-2 senior from Midwest City, Okla., made her first appearance for the Stars and supplied a double-double with 10 points and 19 rebounds.
OCU leads NAIA Division I in shooting percentage at 48.8 percent as a team. To see where the Stars rank statistically among the NAIA, click here.
The Stars moved to second in the first regular-season NAIA rankings of 2014-15. OCU has been ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and made the top 25 in all 180 polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014. SAC coaches predicted the Stars would win the league title. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 15 times, including the last five in a row.
OCU owns a 47-3 record in the all-time series with USAO. In the last meeting between the two, the Stars wrecked the Lady Drovers 102-61 at Abe Lemons Arena on Feb. 20, 2014.

ABOUT THE LADY DROVERS: USAO (5-5, 2-0) dropped an exhibition game against Southwestern Oklahoma State 107-69 on Dec. 30, 2014 in Weatherford, Okla.
Ebony Nelms, a 5-9 junior, led the Lady Drovers in scoring with 20 points and two steals, while adding four rebounds against Southwestern Oklahoma State. Nelms leads USAO in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game, and ranks seventh in the NAIA in steals with 3.20 per game. Ndeye Ngom, a 5-10 senior, scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and three blocks.
USAO was picked to finish eighth according to the preseason SAC poll of coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has a 62-9 record in her third season as OCU head coach. She guided the Stars to a 16-0 record in conference play in 2012-13. She was OCU assistant to Rob Edmisson in 2005-07, then became Western State (Colo.) head coach from 2007-12. Trammell's college head-coaching record is 127-85 in her eighth year. Trammell has coached six all-Americans and 23 all-conference selections, including two SAC players of the year, an SAC newcomer of the year, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player of the year and RMAC West Division freshman of the year. As an assistant at OCU, 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.
Jennifer Hayden enters her second season as the Lady Drovers head coach. Hayden has coached a conference player of the year, a two-time NAIA all-America selection and six all-conference selections.

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
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.
Fans can sign up to receive OCU Athletics SMS text message alerts, including the latest score updates and headlines from the Stars, by going here.
Fans can sign up to receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
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 of the Stars' games. To follow the game via live audio, stats and video, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will call the game.
USAO will provide live stats and video.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Yvonte Neal: G; 5' 7"; Senior

#45 Marisha Wallace: C; 6' 2"; Senior

#3 Rateska Brown: G; 5' 6"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#22 Yvonte Neal
: 5' 7"; Senior
: G

#45 Marisha Wallace
: 6' 2"; Senior
: C

#3 Rateska Brown
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

Players Mentioned

#22 Yvonte Neal

#45 Marisha Wallace

#3 Rateska Brown

Players Mentioned

#22 Yvonte Neal

#45 Marisha Wallace

#3 Rateska Brown