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OCU
Varsity Sports
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Coach Jessica Mehringer In her first two seasons as the women’s basketball coach at Oakland City University, Jessica Mehringer led her “Lady Oaks” to back-to-back third place finishes in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Women’s Division I National Championship Tournament. Prior to accepting the reins of the Oakland City University Women’s Basketball program, Mehringer served as the head women’s basketball coach at Olney Central College for eight seasons, where she guided the Blue Knight to a 125-119 standard from 1998-2006. Included in the 125-119 record were five Region 24 Championship Games. From 1993-98, the Eldorado, Illinois native worked the sidelines as an assistant basketball coach for the “Lady Oaks”, and during her five years as an OCU assistant, the “Oaks” put together the best five-year record in school history, racing to a 92-44 mark that included five straight trips to the NCCAA “Final Eight”. Mehringer is a 1993 graduate of Oakland City University, where she carved out an outstanding personal record, as well as helping the “Lady Oaks” to a 38-17 mark as a starter on back-to-back NCCAA National Tournament “Final Eight” teams, earning All-Region honors both years. Mehringer (then Jessica Morris) tossed in 11.0 points and pulled in 5.6 rebounds a night as a junior in 1991-92, and as a senior, she rammed home 17.8 markers a night, while grabbing 8.6 caroms a contest to lead the “Lady Oaks” to the NCCAA National Championship Game in Spring Arbor, Michigan. Mehringer transferred to Oakland City University from John A. Logan College, where she played a key role in the “Lady Volunteers” fortunes for two seasons (1989-91) at the Illinois Junior College. In her two seasons as the women’s basketball coach at Oakland City University, Mehringer’s teams have put together a 27-31 record, playing a schedule that most coaches would call “brutal”, with several back-to-back-to back road contests against some of the top NAIA Division I , NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division I opponents in the country, including Lindsey Wilson College, the University of Indianapolis, Central State University, Missouri S & T University, the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Brescia University, Lincoln Memorial University, Butler University, the University of Evansville, and SIU-Edwardsville, to name a few. Few of the losses over the two-year period have been by more than 10 points, as Mehringer has had her “Lady Oaks” ready for each and every opponent on the OCU schedule. “She is a great role model to, not only, the women’s basketball players, but to all of our student/athletes on our campus – we are fortunate to have her as a part of the Oakland City University family. “She wants to make a difference in the lives of those under her direction, as well as those around her…” Mehringer holds both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business from OCU, and in addition to her coaching duties, she teaches in OCU’s School of Business. Mehringer and her husband, Kurt, reside in Jasper, Indiana, and they are the parents of two, a son, Tysen (age five) and a daughter, Libby (age three).
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