OCU at St. Gregory's women's basketball preview

Stars have won past 10 league contests

Samantha Stallbaumer contributes 3.0 points a game.

Women's Basketball | 1/20/2016 2:35:00 PM

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21
Don Sumner Fieldhouse in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University meets St. Gregory's in the first of a pair of Sooner Athletic Conference away tests this week.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City nipped Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) 57-54 on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (9-4, 6-0 SAC) overcame an early 11-2 deficit.
Leah Cheney, a 5-foot-6 junior from Ault, Colo., boosted OCU with 12 points, two assists and three steals. Cheney hit 5 of her 6 shots from the field. Cheney supplies the Stars with 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.92 steals per game.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, posted 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Wallen paces the Stars with 21.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.08 steals per game as well as a 54.2 percent field-goal percentage. Allison Frey, a 5-9 sophomore from Mustang, Okla., had nine points on three 3-pointers. Frey averages 11.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game and downs 3-pointers at 39.6 percent clip.
The Stars sit 11th with 29.7 defensive rebounds a game led by Wallen's 7.4 defensive rebounds average, which tops NAIA Division I. To see how OCU compares with the NAIA Division I statistical leaders this season, click here.
OCU tied for the 12th position among this week's NAIA Division I rankings. OCU held a spot in the top 25 for the 196th consecutive poll since 1999-2000. Oklahoma City owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014 and 2015. The Stars were expected to finish second in the preseason SAC poll. OCU has won or shared the regular-season league title 16 times, including the last six.
OCU holds a 39-1 advantage in the all-time series against St. Gregory's. The Stars drubbed St. Gregory's 115-50 on Feb. 19, 2015 at Abe Lemons Arena in the most recent meeting.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: Mid-America Christian pulled out a 71-67 victory over St. Gregory's on Saturday in Shawnee, Okla. Mid-America converted 5 of 8 free-throw tries in the last 1:21 to send St. Gregory's (5-10, 2-4 SAC) to its sixth loss in its last seven games.
Denisha Lundy, a 5-6 senior, propelled St. Gregory's with 20 points, four assists and five treys. Lundy's numbers this season are 14.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.53 thefts a contest to go along with a 41.3 percent 3-point shooting percentage. Kylee Tatum, a 5-10 junior, had 14 points, six rebounds and three steals. Tatum averages 13.1 points and 4.1 rebounds a game.
St. Gregory's hits 9.1 3-pointers a game to ranks third among the NAIA. League coaches predicted St. Gregory's for a ninth-place finish in the 10-team conference.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Bo Overton is in his debut season with OCU. Overton has a wide array of head-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.
Jenone Bell is in her first season as St. Gregory's coach. Bell spent last season as assistant at St. Gregory's to Josiah White. Bell had previously been a head coach at Southern-Shreveport (La.) for three years, going 34-48.

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 featuring Kruschke 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. Listen to the game live by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes provides the commentary. Himes, in his fifth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for eight years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
St. Gregory's will provide live video that will be available by clicking here.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney: G; 5' 6"; Junior

#34 Allison Frey: G; 5' 9"; Sophomore

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

Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney
: 5' 6"; Junior
: G

#34 Allison Frey
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: G

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

Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney

#34 Allison Frey

#22 Daniela Wallen

Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney

#34 Allison Frey

#22 Daniela Wallen