OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University women's basketball will open the 2021-22 season on Friday, Oct. 29 with a home contest against Our Lady of the Lake (Texas). Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Abe Lemons Arena.
 
OCU and Our Lady of the Lake both played abbreviated 2020-21 seasons due to the COVID pandemic but both finished with highly-successful 2019-20 campaigns, with the Stars finishing with a 30-2 record and Saints a 26-6 record. Both teams qualified for the 2020 NAIA National Championship Tournament, which was cancelled due to the pandemic.
 
OCU head coach Brett Tahah is entering her first full season of directing the program for which she helped lead to two NAIA Division I Championship Tournament Fab Four appearances as a player from 2008-10. She was hired as head coach in April, 2020.
 
Oklahoma City owns nine national championships won in 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
 
 
TOP RETURNEES

• Abby Selzer, a senior center from Thomas, Okla., is OCU's most honored player. She is a two-time consensus All-American and one-time Sooner Athletic Conference Player and SAC Student-Athlete of the year. As a sophomore Selzer earned first-team Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NAIA All-American and first-team NAIA Division I All-American honors. She has scored 1,281 points in 74 career games for the Stars and her career averages are 17.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.0 block per game

• Erika Ankney, a senior guard from Harrah, Okla., averaged 14.2 points, 3.4 assists and 2.4 steals last season. She earned third-team all-conference honors as a sophomore after averaging 9.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game

• Jordyn Eaton, a senior guard from Byng, Okla., is the most highly decorated Star for her academic achievements. She has earned NAIA and Sooner Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete honors while also being named to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll

• Selena Driskill, a senior center from Elgin, Okla., averaged 5.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game last season. Prior to arriving at OCU she was a high jumper and basketball letter winner at Northwest Oklahoma State. She set the NWOSU high jump record at the 2020 Great American Conference Championships in 2020

• Paige Pendley, a junior guard from Elgin, Okla., averaged 9.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season for the Stars. She earned Great Lakes Valley Conference all-freshman honors at Rockhurst (Mo.) in 2019-20 after averaging 11.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game
 
NEW FACES

• Annilia Dawn, a senior guard from Amarillo, Texas, transfers to OCU from NCAA Division I Butler. She started her collegiate career at Kilgore (Texas). Dawn helped lead the team to the NJCAA Region XIV Championship game as a sophomore by averaging 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game
 
• Elaine Witt, a freshman guard from Dale, Okla., scored 1,000 career points during her high school career. She averaged 8.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game as senior. Witt helped lead Dale High School to three State 2A Tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish for the 2019-20 season. She earned all-state acclaim from the Oklahoma Coaches Association, the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association and The Oklahoman

• Rachel Barry, a freshman from Hydro, Okla., helped lead Hydro-Eakly to Class A state titles in her junior and senior seasons. She averaged 11.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 4.0 steals per game as a senior and ended her career with 1,000 career points. She all-state honors from the Oklahoma Coaches Association, the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association and The Oklahoman  

• Fiona Wilson, a junior from Greenland, Ark., transfers to OCU from Crowder College. She played in 50 games with 39 starts in her two-year career with the Roughriders. She averaged 19.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore

PRESEASON BUZZ

• OCU is ranked third in the Sooner Athletic Conference preseason poll

• The Stars received votes in the NAIA Women's Preseason Coaches Top 25 poll

THE SCHEDULE

• OCU will play three non-conference games before commencing Sooner Athletic Conference play. After tipping off against Our Lady of the Lake at home on Oct. 29, OCU will play at Wiley (Texas) on Nov. 1 before hosting Champion Christian (Ark.) on Nov. 6. 

• The Stars will play in the Halo Classic on Nov. 23-24 in San Antonio, facing host Our Lady of the Lake on Nov. 23 before playing LSU Alexandria on Nov. 24. Both opponents played in the 2019 NAIA National Championship Tournament. 

• The Stars will open SAC play on Nov. 18 with a road game at Central Christian (Kan.). The conference home opener will be against Langston on Nov. 20. 

MEET THE COACH

• Brett Tahah is the first former OCU player to serve as head coach of the program. As a player from 2002-10 she helped lead the team to a 63-10 record, two conference championships and two NAIA Final Four appearances

• She led OCU to a 5-1 record in an abbreviated 2020-21 season

• Tahah compiled a 117-50 head-coaching record (.701 winning percentage) with two state tournament semifinal berths in six years at Oklahoma high schools Frontier, Elgin, Hobart and Lookeba-Sickles

Coach Tahah took a couple of minutes from her schedule to share some thoughts on the upcoming season:
 
QUESTION: Coming off of a COVID year, how excited are you and the team to get the 2021-22 season started?
ANSWER: The entire team is more than ready for the upcoming season, especially since COVID only allowed us to play six games last season. Everyone on the team is ready to compete again! 
 
QUESTION: What do you see as key factors in this team reaching its full potential?
ANSWER: Having missed out on a full season in 2020-21 I think it is important that we come out focused and ready to achieve our goals. Nearly every team is in the same boat and the teams that are best prepared physically and mentally to play at a high level will be best prepared to reach their full potential.
 
QUESTION: What type of chemistry does your team have with the season-opener quickly approaching?
ANSWER: The players and coaches on the team genuinely love and care for each other. By far one of the most positive and close-knit teams I have ever coached. 
 
QUESTION: How competitive do you expect the Sooner Athletic Conference race to be?
ANSWER: The SAC has always been highly competitive, and I expect this year to be no different.