OCU at Mid-America Christian women's basketball preview

Stars look to keep positive momentum entering postseason

Allison Frey has hit 102 3-pointers as a Star.

Women's Basketball | 2/24/2017 6:55:00 PM

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University travels to take on crosstown rival Mid-America Christian in the final regular-season game of 2016-17.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU blew past Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) 91-44 Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena to clinch the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season title as well as the No. 1 seed in the SAC tournament. The Stars (25-2, 15-1 SAC) will take on Bacone in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Daniela Wallen, a 5-foot-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, led OCU with 24 points, eight rebounds and three steals. She has now scored at least 20 points in 12 straight games. Wallen supplies the Stars with 24.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 steals a contest. She is the NAIA's top scorer in 2016-17.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., totaled 12 points, three assists, and two rebounds. Galindo produces 17.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.22 thefts a game. Her 91.0 percent free-throw percentage ranks second in the NAIA. JoHanna Beathard recorded career highs in points (11) as well as blocked shots (three) while going 4-for-5 from the floor.
The Stars lead NAIA Division I in both field-goal percentage (51.1 percent) and free-throw percentage (79.1 percent). 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 17 times.
OCU owns a 21-0 all-time advantage over Mid-America Christian. OCU rolled MACU 103-73 on Jan. 5 at Abe Lemons Arena. Wallen led all scorers with 24 points as the Stars went 11-for-22 from 3-point-range.

ABOUT THE LADY EVANGELS: MACU took a 90-61 win over St. Gregory's on Thursday in Shawnee, Okla. MACU (19-9, 10-7 SAC) held a 55-35 advantage in rebounds and went on a 21-2 run to move ahead by 15 in the second quarter.
D'Shala Powell, a 5-9 senior, produced 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the win. She averages 7.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.39 steals shots per contest. Jessica Fairley, a 5-10 freshman, provided MACU with a season-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists off the bench. She produces 4.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. Sarai Rodriguez averages 20.4 points per game to rank third in the NAIA.
MACU ranks fifth in the NAIA with a 30.3 defensive rebounds per game. The Lady Evangels were picked by the coaches to finish sixth in the conference 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.
Hannah Moeller took over as Mid-America Christian coach this season after spending the previous four years as Randall head coach. Moeller directed Randall to a 105-28 record with two Association of Christian College Athletics championships, an ACCA runner-up finish and the 2016 National Christian College Athletic Association runner-up finish. Moeller, the NCCAA coach of the year last season, served as an assistant at Mid-America in 2010-11 under former OCU men's assistant Roman Owen, who's currently a Yale assistant.

ABOUT THE SAC TOURNAMENT: The nation's premier NAIA basketball conference stages its postseason tournament at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City on March 3-4. NAIA Division I Tournament berths will be at stake in the SAC men's and women's basketball tournaments.

POSTSEASON IMPLICATIONS: Mid-America Christian would be the fourth seed with either a win, Wayland Baptist (Texas) win over USAO or a Texas Wesleyan win over Bacone. If Mid-America loses, USAO beats Wayland Baptist and Bacone beats Texas Wesleyan, the Lady Evangels would be the fifth seed.

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.
Watch the game live or follow on live stats.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#30 JoHanna Beathard: F; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

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

#30 JoHanna Beathard
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: F

Players Mentioned

#22 Daniela Wallen

#5 Daniela Galindo

#30 JoHanna Beathard

Players Mentioned

#22 Daniela Wallen

#5 Daniela Galindo

#30 JoHanna Beathard