OCU vs. Mid-America Christian women's basketball preview

Stars look to remain undefeated against Mid-America Christian

6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4
Abe Lemons Arena inside Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University finishes its regular-season series against Mid-America Christian.
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. If the Stars score 70 points, fans will get a prize from Raising Cane's. For the OCU athletics visitors guide, click here.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars handed John Brown (Ark.) a 56-42 loss on Jan. 30 in Siloam Springs, Ark. OCU (12-5, 9-1 SAC) outrebounded the Golden Eagles 37-26, while shooting 46 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, notched her eighth double-double of the season with a 19-point, 12-rebound effort, while adding five steals, four assists and two blocks. Wallen ranks second in points per game in the NAIA Division I with 21.7, third in steals per contest with 3.50, while her 9.2 rebounds a game rates ninth.

Allison Frey, a 5-9 sophomore from Mustang, Okla., scored 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting from the 3-point land. Frey averages 11.4 points, while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range and making 2.82 treys a game, ninth best in NAIA. Catherine Kruschke, a 6-foot senior from Dublin, Calif., contributed 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Kruschke posts 13.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
The Stars stand in 14th in field goal percentage with 42.3 percent led by Wallen's 53.5 shooting percentage, which ranks sixth among NAIA Division I. To see how OCU compares with the NAIA Division I statistical leaders this season, click here.
OCU holds the 14th spot in this week's NAIA Division I rankings. OCU made the top 25 for the 197th 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.
The Stars own the head-to-head record over Mid-America Christian 18-0. OCU overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat the Evangels 81-73 on Jan. 14, 2016 at Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City. The Stars went on a 16-0 run to storm back into the game. Wallen finished with a season-high 32 points.

ABOUT THE EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian lost to Texas Wesleyan 78-66 on Jan. 30 in Oklahoma City. The Lady Evangels (8-10, 5-5 SAC) were outrebounded 59-32 overall and allowed the Lady Rams to gather 22 offensive rebounds in the second half.

Sarai Rodriguez, a 5-5 sophomore, tied a career high with 32 points, while shooting 6 of 15 from 3-point range. Rodriguez averages 18.5 points a game and holds a 50 percent 3-point mark. Kelli Tolar, a 5-8 senior, tallied 15 points, three rebounds and two steals against the Lady Rams. Tolar leads the Lady Evangels in points per game (21.6) and tops the nation in 3-point field goals made per game (3.4). She collected player of the week honors from the SAC, NAIA and National Christian College Athletic Association.
Mid-America Christian ranks second nationally in 3-point field goals made per game (9.0) and sixth in assists per game (16.7). Mid-America was projected to finish fourth in the Sooner Athletic 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.

Seth Froese enters his first season as the Mid-America Christian coach. During his two seasons as Mid-America assistant, the Lady Evangels notched their first back-to-back winning seasons since joining the NAIA in 2007. Prior to MACU, Froese served as an assistant in the high school ranks at Edmond North and Owasso, while also coaching collegiately at California Baptist and Tabor (Kan.).

QUOTABLE: "Nobody feels sorry for OCU. It doesn't matter what our player situation is or who's playing. We got that OCU on our uniform and people are going to give us their best shot. I look to the next round of games, even the teams we beat, they are going to give us their best shot again. And we have to keep getting better and better. We are playing a lot of teams coming up that can really shoot. We held Mid-America Christian to 15 3s a couple of weeks ago, and that was an accomplishment. So we are going to have to get to them a little quicker this week. And keep getting better on offense, and we will be fine." – Overton on the second go-around of conference play

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. Follow the game via live audio, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch the game is $7.95 per game, $29.95 to see all 2015-16 home games and $79.95 to watch all of OCU's action in every sport in 2015-16.
Andrew Himes adds the play-by-play. 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.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#24 Catherine Kruschke

#34 Allison Frey

#22 Daniela Wallen

Players Mentioned

#24 Catherine Kruschke

#34 Allison Frey

#22 Daniela Wallen