6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University tries to stay unbeaten in Sooner Athletic Conference play against Mid-America Christian.
It will be Chick-Fil-A night featuring free food giveaways, games, prizes and an appearance by the official Chick-Fil-A cow.
ABOUT THE STARS: OCU overpowered No. 19 John Brown (Ark.) 84-50 on Jan. 9 in the NAIA Network game of the week at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (7-4, 3-0 SAC) shot 52.2 percent from 3-point territory.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, had a 23-point, 10-rebound performance with eight assists and five steals to notch her seventh double-double of the season. Wallen became SAC player of the week for the third time this season. Wallen's 21.7 points per game rates second in the NAIA, while her 56.9 percent field-goal percentage is sixth. Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot senior from Dublin, Calif., contributed the Stars with 16 points, six rebounds and four steals. She averages 15.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Kruschke ranks 22nd among the NAIA in rebounding. Allison Frey, a sophomore from Mustang, Okla., added 11 points, while shooting 3 for 9 from behind the arc. Frey sits 10th in the nation in 3-point field goals made a contest with 2.91. Wallen leads the NAIA with 7.8 defensive rebounds a game, while OCU rates seventh at 30.2 defensive rebounds a game. To see where the Stars rank statistically among the NAIA, click here.
The Stars tied for 13th in the latest regular-season edition of the national rankings. OCU extended its streak of top-25 showings to all 194 polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014 and 2015. SAC coaches expect the Stars to finish second in the league. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 16 times, including the last six in a row.
Oklahoma City owns the head-to-head record over Mid-America Christian 17-0. The Stars beat the Evangels 84-66 on Feb. 5, 2015 at Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City.
ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian fell to Wayland Baptist 100-50 on Jan. 9 in Oklahoma City. The Lady Evangels (5-5, 2-1 SAC) were outrebounded 55-38 and shot 26.2 percent from the field compared to Wayland Baptist's 46.4 shooting percentage.
Alliyah Spatafora, a 5-7 junior, led Mid-America Christian with 11 points and four assists, while Lindsey Mann, a 5-7 senior, added 10 points. Spatafora scores 9.1 points a game, while Mann averages 9.3 points per game and boasts a 49.1 3-point shooting percentage, fourth in the NAIA. Kelli Tolar, a 5-8 senior, leads the Lady Evangels in points per contest (21.4) and 3-point field goals made per game (3.4), both register third in the NAIA.
Mid-America Christian ranks first nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (41.8) and sixth in assists per game (17.3). Mid-America was projected to finish fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Bo Overton is in his debut season with OCU. Overton has a wide array of coaching experience on the professional level in China, Russia and the WNBA, as well as college head-coaching experience with Missouri-Kansas City. Overton has been an assistant on the international level for the Bahamas and China, including the 2012 Olympics with the Chinese team. Overton is well known among Oklahomans for his stint as an assistant to Sherri Coale at Oklahoma from 1998-2004 as well as playing college basketball at Oklahoma.
Seth Froese enters his first season as the Mid-America Christian coach. During his two seasons as Mid-America assistant, the Lady Evangels notched their first back-to-back winning seasons since joining the NAIA in 2007. Prior to MACU, Froese served as an assistant in the high school ranks at Edmond North and Owasso, while also coaching collegiately at California Baptist and Tabor (Kan.).
FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest from OCU athletics through several ways.
Check out OCU athletics on several social media platforms by looking up the handle @ocustars. The Stars are on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and new for 2015-16, Instagram.
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 or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.
ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Follow the game via live audio by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes provides the play-by-play, entering his fifth season as the voice of the Stars. Himes has been broadcasting OCU games for eight years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
Mid-America Christian will provide live video that will be available by clicking here.
