The Lowdown: No. 13 Oklahoma City University @ Mid-America Christian University
Time: Jan. 14 @ 6 p.m.
Location: Gaulke Activity Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
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Live Stats:
Chick-Fil-A Night: Tomorrow night is Chick-Fil-A night and will be fun-filled for the whole family, featuring free food giveaways, games, prizes and an appearance by the official Chick-Fil-A cow.
The Dish on the Lady Evangels: Last week, the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels split a pair of games by defeating the then No. 19-ranked John Brown University Golden Eagles in a thrilling 98-90 double-overtime outing before falling to the now No. 23-ranked Wayland Baptist University Flying Queens for their first conference setback. The Lady Evangels are now 5-5 overall and 2-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
Kelli Tolar leads the Lady Evangels with 21.4 ppg and has hit a team-high 34 threes. Sarai Rodriguez is second in scoring with 17.2 ppg and has dished out a team-high 53 assists on the season. D'Shala Culberson has a team-best 7.9 rebounds per game.
The Lady Evangels are all over the map in the NAIA national rankings, leading in three-point field-goal percentage (.418) and are second in threes per game (9.7). MACU is also sixth in the nation in assists per game (17.3).
Rodriguez ranks first in the NAIA in three-point field goal percentage (.522) and fourth in assists per game (5.8 apg), with Tolar ranking third in both points per game and threes per game (3.4). Lindsey Mann is fourth from three-point distance (.491) and Rodriguez is also seventh in free-throw percentage (.879).
The Dish on the Stars: The defending NAIA national champion Oklahoma City University Stars are tied for No. 13 this week in the latest NAIA Top 25 Coaches' poll. OCU is 7-4 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the SAC. The Stars have four of their last five games and are coming off an 84-50 rout of then No. 19-ranked John Brown University in what was the "NAIA Game of the Week."
Daniela Wallen is powering the Stars with team-highs of 21.7 ppg, 10.0 rpg and 38 assists. Catherine Kruschke is second in both points (15.7 ppg) and rebounds (8.5 rpg), while Allison Frey also scores in double-figures with 12.3 ppg.
As a team, the Stars rank seventh in the NAIA in defensive rebounds per game (30.1), led by Wallen's NAIA-leading 7.8 defensive rebounds per game. Wallen is also second in the NAIA in points per game (21.7 ppg), fourth in steals per game (3.0 spg) and sixth in both rebounds per game (10.0 rpg) and field-goal percentage (.569). Frey is 10th in threes per game (2.9).
The Series: The Lady Evangels have dropped all 16 meetings with OCU since joining the NAIA.
Scoring Frenzy: Tomorrow night's matchup between the Lady Evangels and Stars will feature two of the top scorers in the country. OCU's Daniela Wallen is second in the NAIA with 21.7 ppg, while the Lady Evangels' Kelli Tolar is right behind in third (21.4 ppg).
The Coaches:
Seth Froese is in his first season as head coach of the Mid-America Christian University women's basketball program.
Froese is no stranger to the squad, having served the past two seasons as assistant coach under former head coach and current MACU Athletic Director Marcus Moeller.
Under Moeller, Froese has helped the Lady Evangels record consecutive winning seasons for the first time since joining the NAIA in 2007.
In his first season on the staff, Froese helped the Lady Evangels achieve program-bests in overall victories (18) and conference wins (11) in the competitive Sooner Athletic Conference.
Froese has brought extensive coaching experience to the program that dates back to his days as a student in the late 1990s at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan.
During the 2012-13 season, Froese coached at Edmond North High School as the assistant boys' varsity coach. The Huskies posted their first winning season in five years, going 14-11 and advancing to the 6A Area tournament before losing to state semifinalist Putnam City in overtime. Edmond North was also one of only two teams to beat 6A state champion Edmond Memorial.
Froese served as an assistant coach at NAIA Division I and transitional NCAA Division II California Baptist University, in Riverside, CA, from the 06-07 season through the 2010-11 season. During his time at California Baptist, the Lancers advanced twice to the NAIA Division I National Tournament. In the 07-08 season, they advanced to the "Sweet 16" where they lost to eventual national champion Oklahoma City University. The Lancers also enjoyed their first national #1 ranking during the 08-09 season and competed against NCAA Division I programs, UCLA and Seton Hall.
Froese worked as an assistant coach at NAIA Division II Tabor during the 2005-06 campaign in which the Blue Jays finished 15-15 overall and advanced to the championship game of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Postseason Tournament as the sixth seed. That was Froese's second stint at Tabor as he also served as the assistant women's coach from 1998-2000.
Prior to that, Froese served as a scout for both the California Baptist men's and women's basketball programs during the 2004-05 seasons. The Lancer men advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NAIA Tournament.
Froese also has experience in the high school ranks. From 2001-03, he served as an assistant varsity boys' basketball coach while teaching at Owasso (Okla.) High School. He spent the 2000-01 season as the head varsity girls' basketball coach at Mission Valley High School in Eskridge, Kan.
In addition to his coaching experience, Froese also served as camp coach at the Roy Williams Basketball Camp at the University of Kansas in 2001.
Froese graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology from Tabor in December 1999 and was a dean's scholar. While a student, he served as student assistant coach for the 1997-98 men's basketball squad. The Blue Jays won the KCAC title.
He also earned his master's in kinesiology with an emphasis in sports management in May 2005 from California Baptist. While working on that, he served an internship in NCAA compliance at the University of California-Riverside.
Froese and his wife, Liberty live in Edmond and have three sons, Noah (12), Kannon (9) and Rayph (7).
Bo Overton is in his first season at the helm of the Oklahoma City University Stars. Overton has coached abroad for the past few seasons, including serving as the assistant coach for the Chinese national team in the 2012 Olympics. Overton was an assistant coach under Sherri Coale at the University of Oklahoma from 1998-04 that featured an NCAA Final Four appearance in 2002 along with three Sweet 16 berths and five NCAA Tournament bids.
Up Next: The Lady Evangels will next play at St. Gregory's University Saturday afternoon (Jan. 16) at 3 p.m. in Shawnee, Okla.
