OCU vs. Southwestern Assemblies of God women's basketball preview

Stars take aim at seventh conference regular-season crown in eight years

6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23
Abe Lemons Arena inside Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University seeks to secure the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship plus its 18th 25-win season in 19 years against Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas). The Stars will celebrate seniors Leah Cheney, Mariana Duran, Janae Haag, Daniela Wallen and Allison Frey, who is set to graduate this year.
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.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars crushed St. Gregory's 113-44 on Saturday in Shawnee, Okla. Oklahoma City (24-2, 15-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) took a two-game lead in the SAC standings and clinched a share of the league title.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, accumulated 20 points, nine rebounds and two steals while shooting 8-for-9 from the field. She reached 20 points for the 11th consecutive time. Wallen ramrods OCU with 24.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.92 steals a game. She tops the NAIA in scoring this season.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., posted 19 points, four assists and two steals. Galindo produces 17.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.27 steals per contest. Galindo remains atop the NAIA with a 92.2 percent free-throw percentage. Alexis Hill, a 6-1 junior from Byng, Okla., had a season-best 15 points while hitting 9 of 11 free-throw attempts. Hill averages 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds a game.
The Stars have the NAIA Division I's best team field-goal percentage (51.0) and free-throw percentage (78.6). To see where OCU ranks against the NAIA statistically, click here.
Oklahoma City continued at No. 7 in the last rankings. OCU has made 208 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 gone 6-1 vs. Southwestern Assemblies of God. The Stars dealt SAGU a 62-50 loss Jan. 7 in Waxahachie, Texas. Wallen's line: 32 points, 12 rebounds, three steals.

ABOUT THE LADY LIONS: Mid-America Christian rolled past Southwestern Assemblies of God 90-58 on Saturday in Oklahoma City. Southwestern Assemblies (9-14, 5-8 SAC) took its fourth consecutive loss.
Charity Page, a 6-foot senior, was her team's only double-digit scorer with 22 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Page averages 17.4 points and 10.8 rebounds a game.
Southwestern Assemblies of God held the seventh spot in the preseason league poll.

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.
Tiffany Phillips has a 28-29 record in her second season as Southwestern Assemblies of God coach. Phillips took Hector (Ark.), Marshall (Ark.) and Morrilton Sacred Heart (Ark.) to state-tournament appearances as a high-school head coach. Phillips had coached collegiately as an assistant at Delta State (Miss.) and Central Arkansas.

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. Follow OCU's games via live audio, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch each 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 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.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#14 Janae Haag: F; 5' 10"; Senior

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

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

#24 Alexis Hill: C; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#14 Janae Haag
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

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

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

#24 Alexis Hill
: 6' 1"; Junior
: C