Janae Haag posted 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds a game during the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.

Women's Basketball 3/15/2016 11:29:00 AM

OCU vs. Lewis-Clark State women's basketball preview

Stars look to tie win all-time mark in NAIA Tournament

NAIA Division I Tournament
9:45 p.m. Wednesday, March 16
Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Independence, Mo.

THE MATCHUP: Two-time defending national champion Oklahoma City University faces Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) in a first-round national-tournament matchup for the second year in a row.
Session tickets are $10.50 each for general admission, $7 for students and $5 for children. Tickets can be purchased by going here.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City comes off a 71-58 loss to Wayland Baptist (Texas) on March 5 in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship game in Waxahachie, Texas. The Stars (20-8) advanced to the SAC Tournament title game for the 15th time in 17 years, but settled for their fifth tournament runner-up finish.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 junior from Caracas, Venezuela, reeled in her 13th double-double of the season with 14 points, 14 rebounds and two steals. She supplies OCU with 19.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.22 steals per contest and a 52 percent shooting percentage. Wallen, the SAC player of the year and newcomer of the year, made all-tournament after posting 15.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.33 thefts a game during the SAC Tournament.
Mariana Duran, a 5-7 junior from Yaracuy, Venezuela, added 14 points, five assists and two steals. Haag averages 5.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists and 1.76 steals per game. Markeisha Johnson, a 5-9 senior from Mansura, La., had 11 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. Johnson averages 8.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.04 steals a game.
Among NAIA Division I, OCU ranks 11th with a 43.1 percent field-goal percentage, while Wallen ranks second with 7.2 defensive rebounds a game. Check out how OCU compares with the rest of NAIA Division I this season statistically by clicking here.
Oklahoma City remained at 17th in the latest national rankings. OCU has been in all 203 NAIA polls since 1999-2000. Oklahoma City owns national championships from 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014 and 2015. In NAIA Tournament play, OCU has a 66-13 record and needs one win to tie Union (Tenn.) for the most tournament victories ever.
OCU collide with Lewis-Clark State for the sixth time in national-tournament play. The Stars slipped past Lewis-Clark State 63-61 on March 18, 2015 in last year's NAIA Tournament. Ouleymatou Coulibaly delivered the winning free throws with three tenths of a second left.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Lewis-Clark State rallied past Great Falls (Mont.) 79-73 for its eighth Frontier Conference Tournament title March 8 in Lewiston, Idaho. Lewis-Clark State (25-6) outscored Great Falls 21-8 in the final 6:04 to sweep the conference regular-season and tournament crowns for the third time.
Caelyn Orlandi, a 5-9 junior, posted 16 points, five rebounds and 12 assists. Orlandi, a first-team all-conference selection, provides her team 13.1 points and 5.8 assists a game. Kaylea Knox, a 5-4 junior, had 13 points and three 3-pointers. Knox averages 9.3 points while hitting 48.5 percent from 3-point range.
Lewis-Clark State enters the tournament 13th in the NAIA rankings. Lewis-Clark State tops the NAIA in 3-point shooting (39.4 percent), free-throw percentage (76.3 percent) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.40-to-1).

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.
Brian Orr owns a 368-125 record in his 15th season with Lewis-Clark State. Orr has guided Lewis-Clark State to 13 national-tournament appearances and has become the program's winningest coach. He has won Frontier Conference coach of the year for four consecutive years.

QUOTABLE: "My reaction when I heard, honestly from a personal perspective, was isn't there anybody else in the NAIA? It just seems like we've played them a lot. But as soon as I thought about it for a second, I thought it was perfect. Last year our season came to a disappointing end, but this group remembers last season, no doubt about it." – Orr on Wednesday night's matchup

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 all NAIA Tournament games via live video and live stats. Listen to the KOZE-SPORTS broadcast by clicking here.

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Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly: C; 6' 2"; Senior

#25 Markeisha Johnson: F; 5' 9"; Senior

#20 Mariana Duran: G; 5' 7"; Junior

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

Players Mentioned

#21 Ouleymatou Coulibaly
: 6' 2"; Senior
: C

#25 Markeisha Johnson
: 5' 9"; Senior
: F

#20 Mariana Duran
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

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