Janay Borum broke the OCU single-season record for assists on March 6 against Southwestern Christian in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.

Women's Basketball 3/23/2015 2:17:00 PM

OCU vs. Westmont women's basketball preview

Stars vying for 11th national championship game appearance

NAIA Division I Tournament semifinals
6 p.m. CDT Monday, March 23
Independence Events Center in Independence, Mo.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University attempts to advance to the NAIA Division I Tournament championship game in a semifinal contest vs. Westmont (Calif.).
Session tickets are $10 each for general admission, $7 for students, $5 for children aged 5-11 and free to children 5 and under. Tickets can be purchased by going here.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars hammered 25th-ranked Great Falls (Mont.) 88-52 on Saturday in the tournament quarterfinals. OCU (28-2) recorded its 15th overall and seventh consecutive appearance in the quarterfinals. The Stars made its 13th trip to the Fab Four.
Rateska Brown, a 5-foot-6 senior from Alvin, S.C., fueled Oklahoma City with 22 points while sinking 4 of 8 3-point shots. Brown, the Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year, picks up 18.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.77 steals a game while shooting 38.7 percent on 3-pointers. Her 98 treys hit ranks fourth in the NAIA this season.
Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 senior from Spring Valley, Calif., notched her first double-double of the season and second as a Star with 22 points, a career-high 11 rebounds plus six assists and two steals. Neal's other double-double with OCU came March 1, 2014 vs. Oklahoma Baptist in Oklahoma City with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Neal posts 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.48 steals per game while hitting 36.9 percent from 3-point range. Ouleymatou Coulibaly, a 6-2 senior from Bamako, Mali, West Africa, had 16 points and five rebounds while shooting 8-for-12 from the field. Coulibaly averages 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game with a 55.5 percent field-goal percentage, which ranks sixth nationally.
Oklahoma City's 18.2 assists a game rank second nationally, while Janay Borum leads the NAIA with 202 assists and 7.0 assists per game. Borum, a senior from Upper Marlboro, Md., broke OCU's single-season assist record of 179 previously set by Kesha Watson in 2001-02 with 11 against Southwestern Christian in the SAC Tournament semifinals March 6. To see how OCU compares with the NAIA Division I statistical leaders, click here.
The Stars continued in the second slot in the NAIA Division I rankings for the 11th consecutive time. OCU continued streaks of being ranked in the top 10 in every poll since March 11, 2009 and making the top 25 for the 190th consecutive time since 1999-2000. Oklahoma City owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012 and 2014 and has reached the finals in 2003, 2004 and 2005. OCU has made its 21st trip to the NAIA Tournament and 18th in a row.
OCU has a 2-0 all-time record against Westmont. The Stars won the last meeting 80-48 on Dec. 28, 2012 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Kayla MacKenzie scored a team-high 15 points. Westmont went on to win the 2013 national championship.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Westmont eliminated sixth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist from the tournament 83-81 in three overtimes Saturday. Kristin Karr converted a 3-point play with 33 seconds left to give Westmont (27-6) the lead. The contest was the second triple-overtime game in NAIA Tournament history. The other came when Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) beat Belmont (Tenn.) 94-90 in the 1996 tournament.
Karr, a 5-6 junior, collected 24 points, four rebounds, four assists and four 3s. Karr piles up 13.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.67 steals a game. Aysia Shellmire, a 6-foot sophomore, had 17 points and 13 rebounds. She averages 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
Westmont ranks seventh in the NAIA with a 35.4 percent 3-point shooting percentage, 7.6 3s per game and 252 3-pointers. The Warriors had the 16th spot in the last top 25.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has an 83-10 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 148-86 in her eighth year. Trammell has coached six all-Americans and 23 all-conference selections, including three SAC players of the year, two SAC newcomers 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.
Kirsten Moore owns a 220-94 ledger through her 11th season as Westmont coach. Moore has guided Westmont to its second semifinals appearance in three years. Moore directed Westmont to its first national title 71-65 over Lee (Tenn.) on March 19, 2013.

QUOTABLE: "It's unbelievable. The range of emotions that went into one game. I'm just so proud of how gritty my team was, and really it was both teams. Both teams showed unbelievable fight tonight. My girls refused to give up." – Moore on Saturday's triple-overtime win
"We're privileged and blessed to be in the position we are. We're really looking forward to Monday. I think our team in general was feeding off of positive possessions. I'm really proud of our bench contributing like they did. We're in it to win it – like every other team here. We need to continue to do what we do." – Trammell

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

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: Fans can follow the game via live video stream or live stats.

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Players Mentioned

#14 Kayla MacKenzie: G; 5' 6"; Senior

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

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

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

#11 Janay Borum: G; 5' 2"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#14 Kayla MacKenzie
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

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

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

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

#11 Janay Borum
: 5' 2"; Senior
: G