OCU vs. Southwestern Assemblies of God women's basketball preview

Stars bring unbeaten home record this season into Saturday's contest

Allison Frey leads OCU with 33 3-pointers made and a 39.8 percent 3-point shooting clip.

Women's Basketball | 1/15/2016 2:48:00 PM

3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University takes a 22-1 record in its past 23 Sooner Athletic Conference games into a clash with Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas).
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID. If the Stars score 70 points, fans will get a prize from Raising Cane's. For the OCU athletics visitors guide, click here.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City surged past Mid-America Christian 81-73 on Thursday at the Gaulke Activity Center. OCU (8-4, 5-0 SAC) put together a 16-0 third-quarter run to erase a 13-point deficit.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, ramrodded the Stars with 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals while shooting 13-for-26 from the field. Wallen is a three-time league player of the week in 2015-16. Wallen records 22.6 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.18 steals a game.
Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot senior from Dublin, Calif., pitched in 19 points and nine rebounds. She picks up 16.0 points and 8.6 rebounds a game. Markeisha Johnson, a 5-9 senior from Mansura, La., had 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three steals. Johnson averages 7.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.14 steals a contest.
Wallen tops the NAIA with 7.5 defensive rebounds a game and ranks second in scoring, while OCU ranks sixth at 30.1 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's record against Southwestern Assemblies of God stands at 4-0. The Stars sewed up their sixth consecutive SAC regular-season championship in an 87-44 win Feb. 26, 2015 in Waxahachie, Texas.

ABOUT THE LADY LIONS: Southwestern Assemblies of God downed St. Gregory's 73-68 on Thursday in Waxahachie, Texas. SAGU (10-6, 3-2 SAC) overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Taylor Hill, a 5-6 senior, accumulated 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Hill, who was the conference's nominee for the NAIA's A.O. Duer award, leads her team in scoring (12.7 a game), assists (2.9) and steals (1.63). Ebony Colbert, a 5-6 sophomore, had 16 points and four assists. Colbert averages 8.0 points and 3.4 rebounds a game.
Southwestern Assemblies of God reels in 13.88 steals while holding opponents to a 32.9 percent field-goal percentage to rank fourth nationally in both categories. SAC coaches predicted Southwestern Assemblies would place eighth in the league.

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.
Tiffany Phillips took over as Southwestern Assemblies of God coach in April. Phillips took Hector (Ark.), Marshall (Ark.) and Morrilton Sacred Heart (Ark.) to state-tournament appearances as a high-school head coach. Phillips had coached collegiately as an assistant at Delta State (Miss.) and Central Arkansas.

QUOTABLE: "I thought the girls did a good job of getting the ball inside and attacking. We got some steals and got out in the open floor, and Markeisha and Daniela are about as good as there is in the open floor." – Overton on the Stars' game-turning 16-0 run

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 of the Stars' games. To follow the game via live audio, stats and video, visit 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.

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Players Mentioned

#25 Markeisha Johnson: F; 5' 9"; Senior

#24 Catherine Kruschke: F; 6' 0"; Senior

#22 Daniela Wallen: F; 5' 11"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#25 Markeisha Johnson
: 5' 9"; Senior
: F

#24 Catherine Kruschke
: 6' 0"; Senior
: F

#22 Daniela Wallen
: 5' 11"; Junior
: F

Players Mentioned

#25 Markeisha Johnson

#24 Catherine Kruschke

#22 Daniela Wallen

Players Mentioned

#25 Markeisha Johnson

#24 Catherine Kruschke

#22 Daniela Wallen