OCU vs. Southwestern Christian women's basketball preview

Stars have won nine consecutive in league play

Brooke Irwin delivers 10.3 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.

Women's Basketball | 1/11/2017 4:40:00 PM

6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks to add to its 12-game home winning streak against Southwestern 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.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars took a 62-50 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Saturday in Waxahachie, Texas. OCU (13-1, 4-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) led for the majority of the last three quarters in moving its overall winning string to 12.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, lifted Oklahoma City with 32 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. She rang up her fourth double-double in five games. Wallen accumulates 24.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.64 steals per game, leading the NAIA in scoring.
Mariana Duran, a 5-7 senior from Yaracuy, Venezuela, chipped in 10 points while sinking 4 of 5 from the free-throw line. Duran contributes 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.07 steals a contest. Leah Cheney, a 5-6 senior from Ault, Colo., had seven points and two assists. Cheney averages 1.0 points and 1.3 assists a game.
OCU tops the NAIA with a 50.5 percent field-goal percentage. To see where the Stars rank statistically among NAIA Division I, click here.
The Stars went up to eighth in the latest rankings. OCU extended its streak of top-25 showings to 207 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 owns a 7-0 record against Southwestern Christian. The Stars pulled away from a halftime tie to win 74-64 on Feb. 15, 2016 at Abe Lemons Arena. Wallen posted 24 points and nine rebounds.

ABOUT THE LADY EAGLES: Southwestern Christian fell to Texas Wesleyan 57-49 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Southwestern Christian (8-6, 0-4 SAC) shot under 32 percent for the third consecutive conference game.
Maranda Janz, a 5-7 senior, collected 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and four 3-pointers. Janz produces 16.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.64 steals a game. Andi McGill, a 5-6 junior, had 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four treys. McGill averages 9.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
Southwestern Christian allows opponents to shoot 33.3 percent from the field to rank seventh nationally. Southwestern Christian was predicted to finish fourth in the SAC 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.
Mark Arthur is in his second season as Southwestern Christian women's basketball coach. Arthur, also the school's athletic director, amassed a 404-329 record with four NCCAA championships and four ACCA championships as Southwestern Christian men's basketball coach from 1992-2012. The court at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium is named after Arthur, also a Southwestern Christian hall of famer.

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.
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, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch the 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 will call the action. 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.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney

#20 Mariana Duran

#22 Daniela Wallen

Players Mentioned

#10 Leah Cheney

#20 Mariana Duran

#22 Daniela Wallen