OCU at Bacone women's basketball preview

Stars look for their third consecutive win in conference play

Amanda Ingram posts 4.1 points and 4.9 rebounds a game.

Women's Basketball | 1/6/2016 2:43:00 PM

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7
Palmer Center in Muskogee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University resumes Sooner Athletic Conference play against Bacone.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU dropped an 83-63 decision to No. 6 ranked Our Lady of the Lake on Jan. 2 in San Antonio. The Stars (5-4, 2-0 SAC) went to 2-3 against NAIA Division I ranked opponents.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, tallied her third consecutive double-double for OCU with 24 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. Wallen sits third in the NAIA with 21.9 points per contest.
Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot senior from Dublin, Calif., provided the Stars with eight points, three rebounds and two assists. She averages 15.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. Kruschke ranks 13th among the NAIA in rebounding. Leah Cheney, a 5-6 junior from Ault, Colo., added eight points, four rebounds and three assists for OCU. She averages 6.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.44 steals per game.
Wallen tops the NAIA with 8.4 defensive rebounds a game, while OCU rates seventh at 31.1 defensive rebounds a game. To see where the Stars rank statistically among the NAIA, click here.
The Stars sit 15th 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 has never faced Bacone in women's basketball.

ABOUT THE LADY WARRIORS: Bacone narrowly lost 89-85 to Oklahoma Wesleyan on Dec. 17 in Muskogee, Okla. The Lady Warriors (5-6, 1-1 SAC) shot 40.2 percent from the field and accumulated 12 steals.
Jasmine Flanagan, a 5-5 senior, paced Bacone with 24 points, while shooting 6-for-12 from 3-point land. Flanagan's 19.1 points per game rates seventh among the NAIA.
Ashley Barry-Wallace, a 6-foot junior, added 13 points and six rebounds. Barry-Wallace averages 15.6 points and 2.25 steals a game.
The Lady Warriors rank ninth nationally in points per game (77.8) and steals per game (12.5). Bacone was projected to finish last 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, establishing a reputation as a top talent evaluator and recruiter. He has 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.
Josh Nichols enters his first season as the Lady Warriors head coach after serving as the assistant coach for the men's basketball program for the last four years. Prior to Bacone, Nichols spent four years as an assistant at Iowa Wesleyan and two and a half seasons at Johnson County (Kan.). In 2002 as a team captain, Nichols helped lead Oklahoma Wesleyan to the NCCAA Tournament. After his playing days, he served as the head varsity assistant from 2002-04 at Oklahoma Wesleyan.

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.
Bacone will provide live video that will be available by clicking here.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#24 Catherine Kruschke

#10 Leah Cheney

#22 Daniela Wallen

Players Mentioned

#24 Catherine Kruschke

#10 Leah Cheney

#22 Daniela Wallen