Women's Basketball | 11/21/2016 2:11:00 PM
5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University plays host to top 25-caliber foe Langston on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
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.
ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars went 2-0 in the Oklahoma City Classic over the weekend with wins over LSU-Shreveport 82-58 and third-ranked Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 100-92. OCU (3-1) recorded its first win over a top-five opponent since beating No. 4 Campbellsville (Ky.) 80-63 on March 24, 2015 to win the national championship.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, provided the Stars with a career-high 35 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Our Lady of the Lake. The 35 points were the most by a Star since Yvonte Neal scored 36 in the national championship game against Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) on March 25, 2014. Wallen produced 30.5 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.50 steals and 1.00 blocks a game during the Oklahoma City Classic.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., added 20 points, six rebounds, nine assists and three blocked shots Saturday. She averaged 19.0 points and 6.0 assists per contest in the classic. On the season, Galindo is producing 19.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.25 steals per contest while shooting 50.0 percent from 3-point range, which ranks 15th in NAIA division I. NaShyla Hammons, a 5-11 freshman from Oklahoma City, and Brooke Irwin, 6-3 junior from Mustang, Okla., each had 14 points. Irwin averages 14.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest while shooting 56.8 percent from the floor.
OCU ranks second in NAIA Division I with a 51.4 percent field-goal percentage. To see where OCU ranks against the NAIA statistically, click here.
The Stars hold the 19th spot in the preseason rankings. OCU extended its streak of top-25 showings to 205 consecutive polls since 1999-2000. OCU owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014 and 2015. SAC coaches installed the Stars as the league's preseason favorite. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season crown 16 times.
OCU beat Langston 65-63 on a buzzer beater by Catherine Kruschke the last time these two schools faced off Nov. 17, 2015 in Oklahoma City. Wallen scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win. The Stars lead the all-time series 29-3.
ABOUT THE LADY LIONS: Langston won its first game of the season 94-89 over USAO on Nov. 15 in Langston, Okla. Langston head coach Elaine Powell picked up the first win of her career and is 1-0 on the young campaign.
Ri'Kell Wright, a 5-8 senior, accumulated 32 points, 10 rebounds and one steal while shooting 13-for-21 from the field. Che'Ron Lewis, a 6-foot senior, had 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists.
Langston received votes in the NAIA preseason poll and has been picked to finish in second place in the 10-team Red River Athletic Conference before the season.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Bo Overton returns to OCU for his second season as its head coach. Overton has 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.
Elaine Powell enters her first season as head coach of the Lady Lions. She previously served as an assistant coach for women's basketball programs at Alabama A&M, Ohio University and Grambling State. She spent nearly a decade playing in the WNBA, where she was a three-time WNBA champion with the Detroit Shock. Prior to her professional basketball career, she was a student-athlete at LSU.
QUOTABLE: "Overall, I was pleased with our efforts. We beat two very good teams, and I thought a lot of people individually had great games. I'm looking forward to us building off these wins." – Overton after the Oklahoma City Classic.
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, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
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 OCU's games via live audio, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch each game is $7.95 per game, $34.95 to see all 2016-17 home basketball games and $79.95 to watch all of OCU's action in every sport in 2016-17.
Andrew Himes provides the play-by-play. Himes, in his sixth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for nine years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
