OCU at USAO women's basketball preview

Stars remain undefeated in conference play this season

3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23
USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University completes its two-game road trip against USAO, which resides in last place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City survived a second-half surge by St. Gregory's to win 68-64 on Thursday at Don Sumner Fieldhouse in Shawnee, Okla. The Stars (10-4, 7-0 SAC) held an 18-point lead in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers fought back into the game and captured their first lead with 4:38 left to play in the fourth quarter.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, paced the Stars with 16 points, while adding eight rebounds and two steals. Wallen sits second in the nation with 21.3 points a game, while she also leads the Stars with 9.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.00 steals per game as well as a 54.2 percent field-goal percentage.

Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot senior from Dublin, Calif., grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds and added 15 points to record her fifth double-double of the season. Kruschke averages 15.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per contest. Markeisha Johnson, a senior from Mansura, La., tallied 12 points, seven assists and two steals. Johnson posts 7.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.11 steals per game.
The Stars sit eighth with 29.8 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 owns the 49-3 advantage in the all-time series against USAO. The Stars scorched USAO 93-57 on Feb. 21, 2015 at Abe Lemons Arena in the most recent meeting.

ABOUT THE DROVERS: USAO captured their first SAC victory of the season against John Brown (Ark.) 58-53 on Thursday in Chickasha, Okla. The Drovers (2-9, 1-5 SAC) outrebounded John Brown 40-35 and shot 41.7 percent from the floor, while keeping the Golden Eagles to 37 percent.
Mahogany Nelms, a 5-8 junior, spearheaded the Drovers victory with 21 points, two steals, two assists and three rebounds. Nelms supplies USAO with 13.5 points, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals a game. Kilah Cummings, a 5-8 junior, had 12 points, five rebounds and two steals. Cummings averages 9.6 points and 9.9 rebounds a game.
USAO registers 5.45 blocks a game to rank second among the NAIA. League coaches predicted USAO to finish sixth place in the SAC.

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.
Darrick Matthews is in his first season at USAO after serving as the head women's basketball coach at Southwestern Christian. He led the Eagles to an 18-19 record and a fourth place-finish in the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I National Tournament. Prior to being the women's head coach at SCU, he spent two seasons as a men's assistant at SCU, a season at Sul Ross State (Texas) as an assistant women's basketball coach and an assistant to the men's team at Cooper High School in Abilene, Texas.

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.
USAO will provide fans the opportunity to follow the game via live stats and live video.

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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