2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP

• Oklahoma City University returns to action against Science & Arts in a Sooner Athletic Conference women's basketball clash
• The Stars' contest originally scheduled for Thursday against Texas Wesleyan became OCU's fourth game called off this season due to health and safety concerns
• Tickets cost $7 for adults and $5 for students. All tickets must be purchased via OCU's HomeTown Ticketing portal. No tickets are to be purchased via cash on site. OCU students, faculty and staff gain admission to all OCU regular-season home athletics events free of charge with their ID 
• Fans will be required to wear masks in place over their faces while observing social distancing. No concessions will be offered

ABOUT THE STARS

• Oklahoma City prevailed 81-76 in overtime over Southwestern Christian on Saturday in Bethany, Okla. The Stars (10-5, 5-5 SAC) overcame a five-point deficit with 2:37 left in regulation to send the game to the extra period
• Erika Ankney, a 5-foot-9 senior from Harrah, Okla., piled up her career high with 31 points to go with two assists and two steals. Her layup with two seconds to go in regulation tied the game, and her free throws with one second left helped sew up the win. Ankney shot 11-for-20 from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line. Ankney collected conference player of the week after becoming the first Star to surpass 30 points since Daniela Galindo had 37 on March 15, 2018 against Providence (Mont.) in the NAIA Division I Championship Tournament and supplying OCU with the sixth 30-point performance in the league this season. She ranks second in the SAC with a 19.6 points per game scoring average and has scored in double-figures in nine of 10 games played this season, scoring 20-plus points five times. Ankney hauls in 2.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.80 steals a game
• Fiona Wilson, a 5-9 junior from Greenland, Ark., notched her first double-double of the season with 19 points, 10 rebounds and three steals at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium. She contributed a season-high 23 points in a win over LSU-Alexandria on Nov. 24. Wilson supplies 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game
• OCU leads the conference and ranks fourth in the NAIA in free-throw percentage (216 of 273, 79.1 percent). OCU ranks sixth in the SAC in team offense (76.7 points per game) and ninth in team defense (68.9 ppg)
• OCU has captured nine national championships in 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017 and finished as national runner-up four times (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2019) 
• The Stars took third in the preseason SAC poll. Oklahoma City owns 20 SAC regular-season titles and 12 SAC Tournament championships. Since 2007-08, OCU has gone 247-27 (.901 winning percentage) in conference play
• Oklahoma City owns a 59-4 advantage in the series between the two schools. The Stars, ranked No. 1 at the time, held onto a 64-62 win over Science & Arts on Feb. 22, 2020 at Abe Lemons Arena in the last encounter. Science & Arts scored the game's final nine points, and OCU's Brennyn Seagler blocked Tori James' last-second shot attempt

ABOUT THE DROVERS

• Science & Arts rallied past John Brown (Ark.) 55-50 on Thursday in Siloam Springs, Ark. Science & Arts (12-4, 6-3 SAC) overcame a 42-37 deficit entering the fourth quarter. After John Brown tied the game 50-50 with 1:45 left, Kaytlen Johnson had a jumper at the 1:23 mark, and Lainey Morrow sank a 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go for the Drovers
• Milagros Carrera, a 5-9 sophomore, had 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Carrera averages 18.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.13 steals per game in 2021-22
• The Drovers rank 13th nationally with 29.7 field goals per game
• Science & Arts reeled in the No. 2 spot in the preseason SAC coaches poll
 
MEET THE COACHES

Brett Tahah (15-6, second season with OCU)
• Tahah is the first former OCU student-athlete 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 Fab Four appearances
• Tahah compiled a 117-50 head-coaching record with two state tournament semifinal berths in six years at Oklahoma high schools Frontier, Elgin, Hobart and Lookeba-Sickles 

Darrick Matthews (114-71, seventh season with Science & Arts)
• Matthews guided the Drovers to three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2017-20, including a 29-6 mark with their first SAC regular-season title, splitting the conference crown with OCU in 2017-18. He took the 2018 John Hudson SAC coach of the year
• Overall head-coaching record stands at 132-90 including one season at Southwestern Christian, where he led the Lady Eagles to a fourth-place finish in the 2015 National Christian College Athletic Association Division I Tournament
• Began his college playing career at Oklahoma Christian, then transferred to the University of the Southwest (N.M.), where he became an all-conference performer playing for Quinn Wooldridge, who would eventually become an OCU assistant. Matthews completed his college career at McMurry (Texas)
 
ON THE AIR

• Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio and video of its contests on OCU's BlueFrame platform as well as live statistics. Cost to watch OCU athletics live is $4.99 per game, while there is a women's basketball season pass available for $56
• Andrew Himes calls the action. Himes enters his 11th season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 14 years starting on color commentary as an OCU student 
• OCU has partnered with BlueFrame Technology to create the OCU Sports Network. Fans can find the Stars' BlueFrame platform over the web on the SAC Network along with streaming apps for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and televisions including Amazon Fire Tablet, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. The app can be found and installed by searching for the SAC Network