Women's Basketball 1/9/2015 1:54:00 PM

OCU vs. Mid-America Christian women's basketball preview

Stars put eight-game win streak on line

Cetoria Petties tallies 2.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists a game.

3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University faces a challenge from Sooner Athletic Conference foe Mid-America Christian.
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. If the Stars score 70 points, fans will get a prize from Raising Cane's. For the OCU athletics visitors guide, click here.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City rolled past USAO 87-51 on Thursday in Chickasha, Okla. The Stars (8-1, 3-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) outscored USAO 22-2 in the first nine minutes of game as the home team hit 1 of its first 9 shots from the field.
Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-foot-2 senior from Bamako Mali, West Africa, powered OCU with 24 points and eight rebounds. She shot 9-for-10 from the field and 6-for-6 on free throws. Coulibaly produces 17.9 points and 7.1 rebounds a game and ranks sixth nationally with a 56.9 percent field-goal percentage.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 senior from Spring Valley, Calif., recorded 14 points, two assists and two steals. Neal supplies OCU with 19.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per contest. Marisha Wallace, a 6-2 senior from Midwest City, Okla., had 12 points and four rebounds off the bench. She contributed to the Stars' 34-13 advantage in bench points. Wallace averages 15.5 points and 7.0 rebounds a game.
The Stars lead the NAIA with a 48.9 percent team field-goal percentage. To see how OCU ranks statistically in NAIA Division I, click here.
Oklahoma City held the second spot 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 181 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 leads the all-time series against Mid-America Christian 15-0. The Stars posted a 67-47 win Feb. 27, 2014 at the Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City. Neal scored a game-high 16 points.

ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian rallied past John Brown (Ark.) 56-53 on Thursday at the Gaulke Activity Center. Ashlee Ferguson downed a 3-pointer at the 1:45 mark to break a 49-49 tie to propel Mid-America (9-3, 2-1 SAC).
Ferguson, a 5-6 senior, notched 26 points, two steals and five treys. Ferguson provides Mid-America with 17.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.08 steals a game. Alliyah Spatafora, a 5-7 sophomore, had eight points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals. Spatafora averages 8.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.25 steals a game.
Mid-America Christian averages 4.92 blocked shots a game to rank second nationally. SAC coaches expected Mid-America to take fifth place in the league before the season.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has a 63-9 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 128-85 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.
Marcus Moeller holds a 27-17 record in his second 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.

QUOTABLE: "I was really excited about our defense in the first half. I saw a lot of practice skill carrying over to live play. There was buy-in on defense. They were locked in and worked well together." – Trammell on Thursday's defensive effort

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, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will call the game.
The live audio and stats will be provided free of charge, while the cost to see the video will be $7.95. A men's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' home games this season costs $29.95, while a 2014-15 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly: C; 6' 2"; Senior

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

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

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly
: 6' 2"; Senior
: C

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

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

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#22 Yvonte Neal

#45 Marisha Wallace

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly

#22 Yvonte Neal

#45 Marisha Wallace