Women's Basketball 3/23/2017 4:48:00 PM

Stars' Wallen becomes NAIA player of year

Galindo snares honorable-mention all-American honors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Daniela Wallen from national champion Oklahoma City University took NAIA Division I women's basketball player of the year.
Wallen collected consensus all-American honors for the second year in a row, becoming a first-team NAIA Division I all-American and Women's Basketball Coaches Association NAIA all-American. Daniela Galindo of the Stars garnered consensus honorable-mention all-American honors.
OCU holds a celebration of its women's basketball and cheerleading national championships at noon Monday at the cafeteria inside the Tom & Brenda McDaniel university center.
Oklahoma City captured its ninth national championship, giving OCU national crowns won in 1988, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017. The Stars reeled in their fourth national crown in six years. OCU (34-2) ended the season on a 20-game winning streak, became the fifth team in program history to win as many as 34 games and improved to 21-8 vs. NAIA teams ranked in the top five since 2005-06.
OCU won its 64th national championship in all sports. "I told the players, 'Not one is ours,' " OCU coach Bo Overton told the Billings (Mont.) Gazette. "We talked about putting one of ours up there."
Wallen, a senior from Caracas, Venezuela, became the third NAIA Division I player of the year honoree from Oklahoma City, joining Patty Cantella in 2000 and Kesha Watson in 2003 and '04. Sadio Sangare' of OCU picked up the 2005 WBCA NAIA player of the year award.
"She has special instincts," Overton said of Wallen. "Whether getting a loose ball or coming up with a rebound. She just knows how to put the ball in the basket. When we need a score, she does it."
Wallen reeled in NAIA Division I Tournament most valuable player, SAC Tournament MVP, her second Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year nod, SAC defensive player of the year, second first-team all-conference accolade, two NAIA player of the week nods and five SAC player of the week honors in 2016-17. Wallen averaged 24.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 3.81 steals a game. She led NAIA Division I in points (886), steals (137) and scoring while ranking second in steals a game, fifth in field-goal percentage (55.6 percent) and ninth in rebounds (317).
In the NAIA Tournament, Wallen produced 24.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.40 steals a game while shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from 3-point range. Against ranked competition, Wallen posted 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.18 steals per game in 11 games, all OCU wins. Wallen averaged 21.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.00 steals a game in exhibitions against NCAA Tournament teams Oklahoma and Texas A&M in November.
Wallen posted her career best of 41 points vs. Mid-America Christian on March 3 in the SAC Tournament semifinals and had the buzzer-beating winning jumper at Loyola (La.) on Nov. 25. She scored 35 points three times, 30 points seven times and 25 points 13 times this season. Wallen grabbed 15 rebounds vs. Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) on Nov. 19 and eight steals twice.
In her two-year OCU career, Wallen amassed 1,431 points, 576 rebounds, 228 steals, 27 blocked shots, 57 3-pointers, two SAC all-tournament honors and nine SAC player of the week awards. She compiled 15 double-doubles in 36 games this season and 29 in 64 career games for the Stars.
Galindo, a junior from Shattuck, Okla., provided OCU with 18.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.97 steals per game. She topped the NAIA in 3-point shooting percentage (47.9 percent) and free-throw percentage (91.0 percent) while ranking fifth with 656 points and seventh in 3-pointers (91). Galindo set OCU's single-season record for 3-point percentage, topping Sarah Kincannon's 45 percent shooting in 2001-02. Her season highs were 31 points and seven 3-pointers vs. Wayland Baptist (Texas) in the SAC Tournament title game March 4, 10 rebounds at John Brown (Ark.) on Dec. 1, nine assists vs. Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) on Nov. 19 and six steals vs. College of the Ozarks (Mo.) on Nov. 11.
In the postseason, Galindo became all-tournament in the NAIA Division I Tournament after averaging 22.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest while hitting 13 3-pointers. She was the SAC Tournament hustle award winner.
OCU's other seniors were Leah Cheney, Mariana Duran, Janae Haag and Allison Frey. Cheney, a guard from Ault, Colo., accumulated 247 points, 125 rebounds, 139 assists, 57 steals and 46 treys in her two-year OCU career.
Duran, a guard from Yaracuy, Venezuela, had 279 points, 132 rebounds, 224 assists, 85 steals and 23 3s in her two-year Stars career. Duran's 202 assists ranked third, while her 5.6 assists a game ranked fifth in the NAIA this season. She recorded the second best assist total by a Star to rank behind Janay Borum's 212 from 2014-15.
Haag, a forward from Olpe, Kan., provided the Stars with 289 points, 253 rebounds, 113 assists, 37 steals and 11 3-pointers in two years as a Star.
Frey, a forward from Mustang, Okla., rang up 459 points, 111 rebounds, 61 assists, 27 steals and 111 3-pointers in her two years with OCU. Frey collected honorable-mention all-SAC honors last season.
The Stars led the NAIA in field-goal percentage (51.6 percent), free-throw percentage (77.7 percent) and assists (669).

Print Friendly Version