Monday night features Women's Basketball at Lloyd Noble Center.

MEDIA INFORMATION
What: Oklahoma (1-0) vs. Southeast Missouri State (1-1)
When: Monday, Nov. 24, 2003
Where: Lloyd Noble Center ... Norman
Time: 7 p.m.
Radio: KOMA (1520 AM)
TV: none
Rankings: #22/21 Oklahoma
Series Record: Oklahoma leads 1-0.
Live Stats and Audio: Sooner fans can watch live video, stats and listen to play-by-play action of OU women's basketball by logging onto www.SoonerSports.com.

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA                 PPG      RPG
10   F   Caton Hill            17.0       6.0
14   C   Beky Preston        4.0      7.0
35   G   Dionnah Jackson  9.0      8.0
34   G   Erin Higgins          9.0       2.0
5   G   Maria Villarroel    20.0    4.0

SE MISSOURI STATE    PPG   RPG
11   F   Carina Souza         6.0    1.0
12   F   Yashika Sidbury    7.0    3.5
10   G   Jessica Aebi        11.5   1.5
23   G   Sami Jo Cotton      8.0    2.5
3   G   Kenja White         10.0   2.5

OKLAHOMA (1-0)
     After opening the 2003-04 season with one of the most lopsided victory in school history, Oklahoma turns around to host Southeast Missouri State Monday night. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. The 21st-ranked Sooners defeated Oral Roberts by 48-points in the opening game of the Bertha Teague Classic, while Tulsa shocked Oklahoma State, 58-56, in the second game of the double header Saturday.
     The 48-point margin of victory tied for the fifth-most impressive win in school history, while the 90 point production marked OU's highest output since scoring 103 points in a season-opening win over TCU on Nov. 25, 2003.
     The Sooners have shown a well-balanced ability to score this season, after opening exhibition play with 94-points against Sparta Praha and 90 vs. Oklahoma Christian. OU also has been dominate on the boards, averaging 52.5 rpg in exhibition play.
     OU is lead by seniors Maria Villarroel and Caton Hill's 20.0 and 17.0 points per game, respectively. The duo is also shooting better than 50 percent from the field and is flawless at the free throw line. Freshman Krista Sanchez came off the bench against ORU to score 13 points, hitting four-of-six shots and all four free throws. She also grabbed eight boards in just nine minutes of action. Junior guard Dionnah Jackson fills the point guard position for OU. The St. Louis, Mo., native produced a solid game Saturday as she dished out seven assists, had zero turnovers, scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and pocketed two steals in 24 minutes of play. Another freshmen, Leah Rush, came off the bench to collect a game-high 11 rebounds against the Golden Eagles.
      As a team, Oklahoma is shooting 42.5 percent from the field, compare to its opponent's 30.9. OU also connected on 13-of-15 free throws Saturday for 86.7 percent.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE (1-1)
     Southeast Missouri State enters Monday's game with a 1-1 record. The Otahkians defeated Southern Illinois, 73-64, Saturday, after losing to Utah, 76-65, in the first round of the women's basketball preseason WNIT.
     SEMO is lead by Candra Brown and Jessica Aebi who average 12.5 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. The 2003 Ohio Valley Newcomer of the Year, Kenja White, also contributes 10 ppg. Defensively, Brown also comes off the bench to lead the team with seven rebounds per contest.
     In his first year as head coach B.J. Smith guided Southeast Missouri State to its first OVC Tournament championship game. Lasat year, SEMO produced a 19-11 overall record and a 11-5 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference, which was good for a second-place finish, the highest finish ever for the school. Last year's team ranked 14th in the nation in scoring offense.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma will travel to Malibu, Calif., for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The Sooners will be one of four teams competing in the Yellow Book USA Turkey Shoot-Out inside the Firestone Fieldhouse (8,988 capacity) located on Pepperdine University's campus on Nov. 28-29. Siena, UC-Riverside, OU and host Pepperdine makes up the field for the two-day tournament.

YELLOW BOOK USA TURKEY SHOOT-OUT SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 28
Pepperdine vs. UC Riverside 5 p.m. PST (7 p.m. CST)
Oklahoma vs. Siena 7:15 PST (9:15 p.m. CST)

Saturday, Nov. 29
Consolation Game 5 p.m. PST (7 p.m. CST)
Championship Game 7:15 PST (9:15 p.m. CST)

SOONERS LIVE ON THE INTERNET
OU's game with SEMO Monday night will carry a live video feed with the radio commentary can also be viewed on the official website of Oklahoma Athletics - SoonerSports.com - on a subscription basis through the O-Zone.

SOONERS CLEAN GLASS
     Oklahoma's 68 rebounding performance Saturday marked the most impressive glass cleaning under current head coach Sherri Coale. Prior to that, a Coale team had pulled down 52 rebounds against five different teams, including three times during the 2000-01 season.
     The school record is 75 set against Cameron on Nov. 30, 1982.
     OU's 32 offensive boards were more than ORU had as a team, 23.

COALE LOOKS TO BECOME OU'S WINNING COACH
Eighth year head coach Sherri Coale is 10 victories shy of becoming Oklahoma's all-time winningest women's basketball coach. The Healdton, Okla., native has produced 133 career wins, nine shy of matching Maura McHugh's 142. Coale's 60.6 winning percentage also ranks second to McHugh's 67.0.
Coale is the only coach to have guided five Sooner teams to post season tournaments. McHugh took two teams to post season action, including OU's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1986.

THE RECORD WATCH
* The Oklahoma women's basketball program needs three more victories to reach 500 in its 30-year existence. The Sooners also need one more Big 12 win to reach 150 in eight years.

* Senior Caton Hill is 144 rebounds short of 1,000 and 236 shy of 1,500 points. If she reaches the 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds mark she will become just the second Sooner in school history to do so. Molly McGuire is currently the only Sooner to hold this honor. She scored 2,187 points and grabbed 1,071 rebounds from 1980-1983.

* Junior Dionnah Jackson needs just 27 assists to rank among OU's all-time top-5. She moved up to No. 8 after dishing out seven assists against ORU in the season opener Saturday. Jackson has 275 career assist and needs 24 move to claim the seventh spot on the career list.

THE RETURN OF HILL, HIGGINS AND WALKER
     One of the biggest boost the Sooners will receive in the 2003-04 season will be the return of Caton Hill, Erin Higgins and Casey Walker. Each return to the court after missing the 2002-03 season with a torn ACL.
     Hill bring much needed rebounding and scoring to the Sooners, which she provided her first three seasons. She has been named to two NCAA Midwest Regional All-Tournament teams and has earned All-Big 12 second (sophomore) and third (junior) team honors.
     Higgins is an offensive weapon from three-point range. She scorched Tennessee for a career-high 18 points in her first collegiate game on Nov. 10, 2003 in Knoxville.
     Walker, 6-3 center, adds depth and power to the post positions.

HIGGINS HAD SOLID EXHIBITION PLAY
     Redshirt-freshman Erin Higgins has had solid performances in her two exhibition games this season. The 5-9 guard stepped into a starting role against Oklahoma Christian (Nov. 18) after sophomore Chelsi Welch was sidelined with a season ending knee injury on Nov. 14.
     One of the most impressive stats for Higgins is that she's played 39 minutes without committing a single turnover. She's also dished out seven assists and pocketed four steals, while shooting 42.9 percent from three point land. Against OC, she hit five of nine threes for 15 points.
     Higgins has not missed a free throw in her Sooner career. She's a perfect 10-of-10 heading into Saturday's game. She hit six against Tennessee and two in exhibition action last year. She also hit both attempted foul shots this season against Sparta Praha.

VILLARROEL LEADS SOONERS
Senior Maria Villarroel scored 17 points in each of OU's exhibition games and recorded 20 points in the season opener Saturday against ORU. The Margarita, Venezuela native is shooting 57.1 percent from the field, and is flawless at the free throw stripe (4-4).
The 5-9 guard has also been one of the team's top rebounders and free throw shooters.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
In the 2003-04 WBCA-Summerville Preseason Strength of Schedule Report, Oklahoma ranks 14 among 324 teams. The Sooners have the highest RPI among Big 12 teams. As a conference the Big 12 ranks seventh out of 31.
Oklahoma will face six teams in the top 50 (#1 Tennessee, #12 SFA, #18 Texas, #31 Wichita State, #38 Siena, #44 Pepperdine).

OU RANKS AMONG MOST WINS
Oklahoma has won 119 games over the last five years. This figure ranks the Sooners 13th for the most wins in the last five years among Division I Women's Basketball programs.

OKLAHOMA RETURNS TO THE TOP-25
After sitting out for five weeks, Oklahoma returned to the Top-25 on Nov. 11, 2003. The Sooners earned preseason rankings of No. 21 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today/Coaches Polls.
OU had its 58 straight weeks of being ranked among the nation's top 25 teams snapped on Feb. 10, 2003. The Sooners dropped out of the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN/Coaches top 25 polls for the first time since Oklahoma made its initial appearance under current Sooner coach Sherri Coale on Jan. 17, 2000.

OU PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON CONFERENCE RANKINGS
In a pair of preseason Big 12 Conference Polls [Coaches and Media] Oklahoma was tabbed to finish fourth in the conference race. Texas was picked to win its second straight Big 12 title in both polls. Kansas State, who finished second in last year's conference race, was tagged to finish second again while Texas Tech was chosen third, followed by OU. Colorado is a preseason pick to finish fifth, while Baylor, Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Nebraska rounds out the preseason rankings. In the coaches preseason poll, Texas A&M was chosen 12th while Nebraska was 11th.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Monday night features Women's Basketball at Lloyd Noble Center.

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