OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City University women's basketball team got a big performance once again from Daniela Wallen as she put up 30 points to help guide OCU to a 78-59 win over 20th-ranked John Brown (Ark.) Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.
It was the 11th time this season the Stars have held an opponent under 60 points as the win moved them to 21-2, 12-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play while John Brown fell to 17-7, 9-4 SAC.
Wallen, a 5-11 senior from Caracas, Venezuela, topped 30 points for the sixth time this season. She also added eight rebounds, three assists and six steals in the win. Of the six times Wallen has scored over 30 points, four of them have come against teams currently ranked in the NAIA top 25. Additionally, she is averaging 25.1 points per game against ranked opponents this season.
"Daniela has such great instincts when it comes to the game in general," OCU head coach Bo Overton said. "When the ball isn't in her hands she does a great job of getting in the right spot to make plays."
The Stars were down 9-4 early in the first quarter, but went on a 19-0 run to close out the quarter and never trailed after. They outscored John Brown 22-0 in fast break points and 44-12 in points in the paint.
Daniela Galindo, a 5-10 junior from Shattuck, Okla., provided Oklahoma City with 22 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals while shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. She has now scored over 20 points in five of her last seven games.
Alexis Hill, a 6-1 junior from Bying, Okla., provided a spark off the bench for OCU with eight points and seven rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass.
The Golden Eagles kept the game close in the first half and only trailed by seven at halftime, but OCU opened the second half on a 10-0 run to go up 51-32. John Brown was unable to get within single digits the rest of the way.
"John Brown is always a scary opponent with the way they can shoot the ball," Overton said. "The key with them is to shoot the ball well and put up points. I felt like we did that tonight and it was a great win for our team."
The Stars shot 53.2 percent from the field while John Brown shot only 33.9 percent. The Golden Eagles did most of their damage from beyond the arc as 39 of their 59 points came from downtown.
Jana Schammel led the way for John Brown scoring 22 points while going 6-for-9 from 3-point-range. She also added four rebounds and two assists in the loss.
The Stars biggest lead in the game came with 0:25 left in the fourth quarter when a Daniela Galindo layup put OCU up 21.
Oklahoma City will head to Muskogee, Okla., Saturday for a 3 p.m. matchup with Bacone at the Palmer Center Gymnasium.