OCU vs. Texas Wesleyan women's basketball preview

Stars strive to remain atop SAC standings

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University seeks to reach 20 victories for the 19th consecutive season against Texas Wesleyan in a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup.
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: OCU trounced Southwestern Christian 88-53 on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. The Stars (19-2, 10-1 SAC) used a 17-2 run over the course of the first and second quarters to pull away.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-foot-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., provided 25 points while shooting 64.2 percent from the floor and hitting four 3-pointers. It was her third consecutive game scoring at least 25 points. Galindo accumulates 17.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.29 steals per game plus an NAIA-high 91.9 percent free-throw percentage.
Daniela Wallen, 5-11 senior out of Caracas, Venezuela, scored 21 points while grabbing seven rebounds to go along with three steals. Wallen provides 23.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.00 steals per contest. She leads the NAIA in points per game and sits second in steals per game. Janae Haag and Alexis Hill each had eight points. Haag, a 5-10 senior from Olpe, Kan., added a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with six assists and three blocks off the bench.
The Stars lead the NAIA with a 50.5 percent field-goal percentage and 77.9 percent shooting from the free-throw line. To see where OCU ranks against the NAIA statistically, click here.
Oklahoma City stayed at seventh in the latest NAIA poll. OCU improved its streak of top-25 appearances to 208 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.
The Stars are 11-0 all-time against Texas Wesleyan. Oklahoma City dropped Wesleyan 91-65 on Jan. 21 at Sid Richardson Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Galindo led all scorers with 23 points and hit five 3-pointers.

ABOUT THE LADY RAMS: Texas Wesleyan fell to Mid-America Christian 77-68 on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Lady Rams (6-11, 4-5 SAC) led by one with just over six minutes left, but were outscored 17-7 down the stretch.
Katelynn Threats, a 5-11 senior, scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out four assists and blocked six shots. Threats leads the SAC and is fourth in the NAIA with 12 double-doubles this season. She averages 15.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 1.18 steals and 1.09 blocks per contest. Ashley Brunner, a 5-4 junior, had 16 points, six rebounds and nine assists off the bench in the loss.
Texas Wesleyan ranks eight in the NAIA with 16.8 assists per game. The Lady Rams were expected to finish fifth 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.
Bill Franey has a 96-76 record in his sixth season as the Lady Rams' head coach. Among many notables in his career, Franey guided Belleville St. Henry Prep (Ill.) to a state championship and served as an assistant coach to Nolan Richardson at the University of Tulsa in the early 1980s.

QUOTABLE: "It wasn't that long ago since the last time we were down there [in Fort Worth]. They are very physical inside for sure. I thought there was a quarter down there where we just got manhandled, but we didn't have Brooke [Irwin]. We're looking forward to having her for this matchup, and we're just going to keep doing what we're doing. If we continue to play transition defense and rebound the basketball the offense is so good that everything else will be fine." – Overton on Saturday'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, 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 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 calls 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

#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

#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