OCU vs. Campbellsville women's basketball preview

Stars aim to become first team since Union to repeat as NAIA champ in 2009-10

Ouleymatou Coulibaly has supplied OCU with 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds a game during the 2015 NAIA Tournament.

Women's Basketball | 3/24/2015 2:09:00 PM

NAIA Division I Tournament championship
6:30 p.m. CDT Tuesday, March 24
Independence Events Center in Independence, Mo.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University meets Campbellsville (Ky.) with the NAIA Division I Tournament championship at stake.
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: Oklahoma City dissected Westmont (Calif.) 77-57 on Monday in the tournament semifinals. OCU (29-2) looks to repeat as national champions and win its eighth national championship, which would be the most in NAIA women's basketball.
Marisha Wallace, a 6-foot-2 senior from Midwest City, Okla., collected 18 points and 14 rebounds in 17 minutes of play. Wallace hit 7 of her 12 shots from the floor and all four of her free throws while grabbing seven offensive boards. Wallace, a third-team all-Sooner Athletic Conference choice, accumulates 13.8 points and 8.0 rebounds a game to go with a 51.5 percent field-goal percentage. She boasts of seven double-doubles on the season. In the tournament, Wallace has recorded 10.0 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.
Rateska Brown, a 5-6 senior from Alvin, S.C., provided the Stars with 16 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Brown, the SAC player of the year, posts 18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.77 steals a contest while shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range. Her 99 3s rank fourth in the NAIA this season. She has averaged 16.8 points a game in the tournament. Yvonte Neal, a 5-7 senior from Spring Valley, Calif., added 14 points, five rebounds and four steals. Neal, a second-team all-SAC performer, averages 15.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.58 steals a game while downing 36.5 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Neal's tournament numbers are a team-best 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.25 steals a game.
The Stars rank second in the NAIA with 18.1 assists a game, while Janay Borum leads the NAIA with 203 assists and 6.8 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.
OCU held onto the second spot 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 gone 8-1 against Campbellsville over the years. The Stars prevailed 79-76 on March 22, 2014 in the NAIA Tournament quarterfinals in Frankfort, Ky. Cara Pugh established a new career high with 27 points, while Neal had 19 points, four assists and five 3-pointers. During last year's national-title run, OCU won its five games by a combined 20 points.

ABOUT THE LADY TIGERS: Campbellsville upended top-ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 56-52 on Monday. Lindsey Burd scored six points in the final minute for Campbellsville (33-3).
Emily Fox, a 5-8 sophomore, picked up 13 points and two steals. Fox contributes 7.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Burd, a 5-10 junior, had 12 points and hit 8 of 10 free throws. She averages 9.9 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.
Campbellsville allows the third fewest points in the NAIA at 52.4 points per game. The Lady Tigers sat fourth in the most recent ratings.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Latricia Trammell was the 2014 NAIA Division I Phyllis Holmes coach of the year. Trammell has an 84-10 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 149-86 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.
Ginger Colvin has guided Campbellsville, her alma mater, to a 215-57 record in her eighth season at the helm. Colvin has brought Campbellsville to its first national-title game as well as the program's first Fab Four appearance. Colvin was Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year in 1990.

QUOTABLE: "It's unbelievable, especially when you have six new players and only five returners. The toughness that they've shown through adversity – I'm really proud of this team. Coaches that were here (Oklahoma City) prior to me set our tradition. We're just proud of these girls. Whatever happens, we're playing in the championship game. That was our ultimate goal this season and we're here. I'm anxious to get back on the court tomorrow." – Trammell
"It's a blessing. Whoever we have, we're going to be ready to play, and I hope they're ready to play us. We're going to come out and bring the heat." – Neal

STAYING IN OKC? Come to the student lounge inside the Tom & Brenda McDaniel University Center beside the cafeteria 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: ESPN3 will broadcast the game live. Jason Knapp will be the play-by-play announcer, while Brenda VanLengen will provide the analysis. For information on how to watch the game, click here. Fans can follow the game live stats.

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Players Mentioned

#34 Cara Pugh: 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

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

Players Mentioned

#34 Cara Pugh
: 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

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