Women's Basketball 2/20/2015 9:49:00 AM

OCU vs. USAO women's basketball preview

Stars come off offensive showcase

Cara Neighbors established season bests with her 13 points, three steals and three 3-pointers Thursday.

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21
Abe Lemons Arena in the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University sets out to reach 20 victories for the 17th consecutive season and get the season series sweep of Sooner Athletic Conference foe USAO.
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: The Stars overwhelmed St. Gregory's 115-50 on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena for OCU's most lopsided victory of the season. Oklahoma City (19-2, 14-1 SAC) has a 522-65 record for an .889 winning percentage since 1998-99, when OCU began its string of 20-win seasons.
Rateska Brown, a 5-foot-6 senior from Alvin, S.C., poured in 26 points, seven assists and six 3-pointers against St. Gregory's. Brown accumulates 19.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.86 steals a contest as well as 38.9 percent shooting from the beyond the 3-point arc. She ranks second in the NAIA at 3.52 treys per game.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 senior from Spring Valley, Calif., provided OCU with 22 points, six rebounds and three 3s. Neal hit double digits in points for the first time since Jan. 29. She averages 14.2 points and 4.6 rebounds a contest along with 36.1 percent 3-point shooting. Marisha Wallace, a 6-2 senior from Midwest City, Okla., added 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. Wallace pitches in 14.6 points and 7.6 rebounds a game. In the past six games, she has averaged 16.8 points and 7.7 rebounds a contest.
The Stars pace NAIA Division I at 18.9 assists per contest. To see how OCU compares with the NAIA Division I statistical leaders, click here.
Oklahoma City took the No. 2 spot in the NAIA Division I rankings for the eighth consecutive poll. OCU continued streaks of being ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and making the top 25 for the 187th consecutive time since 1999-2000. Oklahoma City 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 has a 48-3 all-time record against USAO. The Stars walloped USAO 87-51 on Jan. 8 in Chickasha, Okla. Ouleymatou Coulibaly had 24 points and eight rebounds.

ABOUT THE LADY DROVERS: Science & Arts of Oklahoma topped Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) 75-55 on Thursday in Chickasha, Okla. USAO (8-15, 5-10 SAC) has its most conference wins since winning nine SAC games in 2008-09.
Ndeye Ngom, a 5-10 senior, collected 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Ngom picks up 11.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.19 steals a game. Mahogany Nelms, a 5-8 junior, had 15 points and four 3-pointers. She averages 11.0 points and 3.0 rebounds a contest while shooting 35.6 percent from 3-point land this season.
USAO's 16.5 offensive rebounds a game rank 10th among the NAIA. USAO had been projected to finish eighth in the SAC before the season.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has a 74-10 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 139-86 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 directed USAO to a 13-34 record. She has coached a conference player of the year, a two-time NAIA all-America selection and six all-conference selections.

QUOTABLE: "Not only on the offensive end, but I think it was our best defensive game. I was so proud of our young ladies and their communication. We started clicking more. I thought it was a great 40 minutes of basketball. It was good teamwork, and they had fun." – Trammell on Thursday's 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 watch, listen to or follow the game on live stats, 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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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