The women’s basketball team won the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament championship for the 11th time.
The Stars defeated Wayland Baptist on Saturday with a final score of 86-65, according to OCUsports.com.
“I tried to tell them the whole season, ‘we’ve got to get better every week, every month, every game,’” Coach Bo Overton said to OCUsports.
Senior Forward Daniela Wallen received the SAC tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.
“At all our games, coach says we have to play hard because nobody is going to give us the win, so we need to be focused,” Wallen said.
The team’s regular and conference seasons are over, but they’re still looking ahead to the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics Division I tournament March 15-21 in Billings, Montana.
“I can’t wait to play there and get the championship,” Wallen said. “I’m very excited because we have a pretty great team and it’s going to be a fight.”
The teams OCU will face are to be announced. The university won NAIA championships in 1988, 1999-2002, 2012, 2014, and 2015, according to OCUsports.
“When you’re at this school, and you come to practice every day, and you have all these red flags up, those are national championships,” Overton said to OCUsports. “Trust me, we play in a great league with great coaches. There’s a lot of great players. These players understand we’re here for these red flags.
“They’ve worked towards this next week coming up. It’s just a great weekend. It’s always great to be playing your best right now, and we are.”
The university is advancing to its 20th consecutive national tournament and 23rd NAIA tournament appearance overall, according to OCUsports.
Overton called Wallen the “best player” on the team in the past. Wallen has been on the team since 2015 and already collected a number of accolades. In this season, she’s been a two-time NAIA Player of the Week and a five-time SAC Player of the Week, according to OCUsports.
As a senior, Wallen said she’s done after this season, but she said she thinks Overton can continue the success they had this season.
“I think with Coach Overton – he knows a lot, he knows how to recruit players – I think next season is going to be exactly the same thing as this season,” she said.
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