Women's Basketball | 2/24/2016 2:59:00 PM
6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25
Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth, Texas
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University travels to Texas Wesleyan for the Stars' last away regular-season game of the season.
ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars edged USAO 52-49 on Feb. 20 at Abe Lemons Arena. Daniela Wallen's 3-pointer with 25 seconds left made the difference for the Stars (16-7, 13-3 SAC). Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot senior from Dublin, Calif., had a team-high 15 points, while adding seven rebounds and an assist. Kruschke supplies the Stars with 13.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest. Wallen, a 5-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, notched her 11th double double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while grabbing seven steals and four assists. Wallen leads OCU with 20.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game with a team-high 51.4 shooting percentage. Leah Cheney, a 5-6 junior from Ault, Colo., contributed seven points, three rebounds and two treys plus a crucial free throw with two seconds to go. Cheney provides OCU with 7.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.61 steals a contest. The Stars rank 16th in the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game with 34.7, while Wallen's 7.4 defensive rebounds a game leads the nation. To see how OCU compares with the NAIA Division I statistical leaders this season, click here. Oklahoma City registered 17th in the latest NAIA Division rankings. OCU found itself in the national ratings for the 200th 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. Oklahoma City has gone 126-10 (.926 winning percentage) against SAC competition since 2009-10. The Stars lead the series against Texas Wesleyan 9-0. OCU eased past TWU 62-50 at Abe Lemons Arena on Dec. 8, 2015. Wallen had a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
ABOUT THE LADY RAMS: Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) outlasted Texas Wesleyan 68-61 in double overtime on Saturday in Waxahachie, Texas. Katelynn Threats hit a game-tying jumper with seven seconds left in the first overtime, but the Lady Rams (8-18, 3-13 SAC) were outscored 8-1 in the second overtime period.
Threats, a 5-11 junior, had a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Threats' 9.2 rebounds a game ranks 11th among the NAIA, while her 18.7 points a game rates eighth. Chervelle Cox, a 6-foot sophomore, tallied seven points and 15 rebounds. Cox racks up 7.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per contest.
Texas Wesleyan averages 14.5 assists a game, which ranks 17th in the NAIA. Texas Wesleyan had been picked to finish third in the league in the preseason.
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. Bill Franey enters his fifth season as head coach of Texas Wesleyan. Franey owns an 85-67 record as the Lady Rams head coach. Among many notables in his career, Franey guided Belleville St. Henry Prep (Ill.) to a state championship and served as an assistant coach to Nolan Richardson at the University of Tulsa in the early 1980s.
Quotable: "I like how we are doing. We are getting better each week. I thought we played great defense today. We rebounded the ball well and if we keep doing that, we have a chance to win all games. Daniela made two great plays by diving on the floor and getting us two easy baskets. So again that's gotta be our team, playing hard and stopping people from scoring. I thought we did that today.
-Overton on OCU's performance on Saturday
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: Fans can follow the game via live video and live stats on Texas Wesleyan's Stretch portal.
