OCU at USAO women's basketball preview

Stars hold one-game lead in SAC standings

6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16
USAO Fieldhouse in Chickasha, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University takes on USAO in Chickasha, Okla., in a matchup of two of the top four teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars raced past Bacone 79-57 on Saturday at the Palmer Center in Muskogee, Okla. OCU (22-2, 13-1 SAC) led by as many as 32 in the win and remained atop the conference standings.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-foot-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., totaled 24 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. Galindo adds 17.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.33 thefts a game. Her 92.2 percent free-throw percentage ranks No. 1 in the NAIA.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, provided 20 points, six rebounds and six steals. She is averaging 4.57 steals per contest in her last seven games. Wallen supplies the Stars with 24.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.04 steals a contest. She is the NAIA's top scorer in 2016-17. Brooke Irwin, a 6-3 junior from Mustang, Okla., scored 17 points while grabbing four rebounds in the victory. She produces 10.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and a 58.8 percent field-goal percentage.
The Stars lead NAIA Division I with a 50.7 percent field-goal percentage. To see where OCU ranks against the NAIA statistically, click here.
Oklahoma City remained at seventh in the newest rankings. OCU has made 209 consecutive appearances in the NAIA ratings 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 has a 52-3 all-time advantage over USAO. The Stars dropped the Drovers 85-70 earlier this season on Jan. 26. Wallen had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. She surpassed 1,000 points in her OCU career.

ABOUT THE DROVERS: USAO fell 83-58 against Texas Wesleyan on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. USAO (10-12, 8-6 SAC) shot only 33.9 percent from the floor and were outrebounded 47-31.
Kenzie Bean, a 5-11 freshman, led the Drovers with 12 points, a season-high eight rebounds and four assists. She provides 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per contest. Deirra Ely, a 5-10 junior, produced seven points and five rebounds in the loss. She is the leading scorer for USAO with 15.4 points to go along with 9.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game.
USAO ranks 19th in the NAIA with 7.36 made 3-pointers per contest. They were pegged to finish eighth 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.
Darrick Matthews has a 33-50 record as a head coach in his second season at USAO. USAO went 5-19 under Matthews last season. He led Southwestern Christian to an 18-19 record and a fourth place-finish in the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I Tournament in 2014-15. Matthews' experience includes one season as a Sul Ross State (Texas) assistant for the women's team.

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. Listen to the game live by visiting OCU's Stretch portal here. Andrew Himes serves as the play-by-play man. 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.
USAO will also provide live stats as well as video for the game.

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Players Mentioned

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

#5 Daniela Galindo: G; 5' 10"; Junior

#40 Brooke Irwin: C; 6' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

#5 Daniela Galindo
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G

#40 Brooke Irwin
: 6' 3"; Junior
: C

Players Mentioned

#22 Daniela Wallen

#5 Daniela Galindo

#40 Brooke Irwin

Players Mentioned

#22 Daniela Wallen

#5 Daniela Galindo

#40 Brooke Irwin