OU Travels to Dallas to Face SMU Wednesday

MEDIA INFORMATION
What: Oklahoma (4-0) vs. SMU (1-2)
When: Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003
Where: Dallas, Texas (Moody Coliseum)
Time: 7 p.m.
Radio: KOMA (1520 AM)
TV: none
Rankings: #16 Oklahoma
Series Record: SMU leads 5-4.

Internet: Sooner fans can listen to play-by-play action of OU women's basketball by logging onto www.SoonerSports.com. Brian Brinkley (play-by-play) and Tara Robinett (color analyst) will call the action for the Sooners.

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA (4-0)            PPG       RPG
10   F   Caton Hill                14.3      3.0
14   C Beky Preston          8.0         5.8
35   G   Dionnah Jackson    11.0       4.8
34   G   Erin Higgins             8.8        1.8
5   G   Maria Villarroel       15.5        5.8

SMU (1-2)                             PPG       RPG
14   F   Sarah Davis               9.7         7.3
20   F   Alisa Wright                 1.3         1.7
03   G   Kendall Shead            5.0         3.7
22   G   Shanta Ramdhanny    10.7       1.3
40   G   Andrea Cossey          8.7         2.3

OKLAHOMA (4-0)
The 16th-ranked Oklahoma women's basketball team takes its flawless 4-0 record to unranked SMU on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The Sooners and Mustangs will tip off at 7 p.m. inside Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas

OU looks to even the all-time series with SMU. Oklahoma trails 5-4 but has won two of the last three games.

OU has displayed its ability to score points and play defense by producing a +29 point scoring margin over its opponents. The Sooners are also holding their opponents to just 59.2 points and only 26.5 rebounds per game. OU leads the Big 12 Conference in offensive production, averaging 88.2 points per game. OU also ranks among the league's top 5 in nine other categories, including first in free throw percentage (79.4) and rebounding defense (26.5).

Oklahoma showcased its offensive power as the Sooners averaged 90 ppg and shot 59.1 percent (65-of-110) from the field at the Yellow Book Turkey Shoot Out last weekend. OU defeated Siena, 85-70, in the opening round and handed host Pepperdine a 95-77 loss in the title game. The Sooners 95 points was the most scored since OU recorded 101 against Colorado in the 2001 Big 12 Tournament.

OU's season opening win over ORU was one of the most lopsided victory in school history. 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 a well-balanced ability to score and rebound as four players are averaging 10 or more points and 4.5 plus rebounds per game.

One of the biggest threat, but smallest bodies on the OU roster, is senior Maria Villarroel. The Margarita, Venezuela native averages team highs of 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. She is backed up by senior power forward Caton Hill's 14.3 ppg and 3.0 rpg. However, Hill leads the team in steals with nine and ranks second with seven assists. Bench power comes from freshman sensation Leah Rush, who contributes 11.5 points and 4.8 rpg. The Amarillo, Texas native is also shooting lights out as she's nailed 15-of-23 shots from the field for a 65.2 accuracy. Manning the point guard position for the Sooners is junior Dionnah Jackson who chips in 11 points and a team-best 3.0 assists per game.

SMU (1-2)
The SMU finished second in its Hoops for the Cure Tournament last weekend. The Mustangs lost to No. 5 Texas Tech, 77-37, in the championship game, after defeating UTA, 74-71.

SMU, who has made six in the last nine NCAA Tournaments, is currently 1-2 on the season with its other loss coming against TCU, 74-64, to open the season.

The Mustangs are lead by a pair of guards in Kaira White and Shanta Ramdhanny who are each averaging 10.7 points per game. Forward Sarah Davis tops the team with 7.3 rebounds per game, followed closely by forward Shonte Roberts' 6.7 rpg.

As a team, SMU averages 58.3 ppg and 33.3 rpg. SMU is shooting just 32.0 percent from the field, 25.8 from beyond the arc and 70.0 percent from the free throw line.

In her 13th season as the head coach Rhonda Rompola returns three starters plus Kim Walters who missed last season with a knee injury. Headlining SMU returning starters is senior Andrea Cossey. Cossey who was selected a preseason All-WAC first teamer, while Davis was named to the 2003 All-WAC Newcomer team. Ramdhanny, a senior scored a career-high 22 points in SMU's upset over the Sooners a year ago and was named the team's defensive player of the year.

HOLIDAY TICKET SPECIALS - SOONER SAVER HOLIDAY FAMILY PACKS
Holiday Family Packs include your game ticket, a regular hotdog, a small Coke, and an OU t-shirt (coupon redeemable at OU Authentic) all for just $10 (minimum order of four packages)!

Call the OU Athletic Ticket Office to redeem your Holiday Family Pack coupon. Holiday Family Pack coupon can be used for one of the following games:

*No. 19 Utah Sun., Dec. 7
*No. 3 Tennessee Sun., Dec. 21
*Illinois Sun., Dec. 28
*Wichita State Tues., Dec. 30

UP NEXT - TOP 25 MATCH-UP
The 19th-ranked Utah Utes invade the Lloyd Noble Center Sunday, Dec. 7 for a 2 p.m. showdown between two top-25 programs. Utah is currently 3-1 with its only loss away from home to then-18th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 52-44, in the preseason WNIT on Nov. 17.

Utah claimed the championship at the Fresno State Classic last weekend, routing Western Kentucky 84-55 in the first round before defeating the host Bulldogs 66-53 in the title game.

Sophomore All-America candidate Kim Smith was named tournament MVP after averaging 20.5 points and 6.5 rebounds over the two games. On the season, the Utes are led by Smith, who averages team-highs of 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds. Shona Thorburn adds 15.0 points and 5.0 assists per game.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
A Sooner senior will be celebrating her birthday on Wednesday as OU takes on SMU. Guard Maria Villarroel will turn 25. The Margarita, Venezuela native is the oldest player of the roster, followed by senior Caton Hill, who's 22 years old.

OUT OF THE GATES STRONG
This is the second team under current head coach Sherri Coale to open its season with a 4-0 record. The 2001-02 team opened its season with a 10-0 record before suffering its first loss to Connecticut. That team averaged 79.5 points per game, while this year's team is scoring a Big 12 best 88.2 ppg.

MILESTONE REACHED -- 500 & COUNTING
The Oklahoma basketball program reached a milestone this past weekend. The Sooner women won its 500 victory in its 30-year existence with a dominating 95-77 win over Pepperdine on Nov. 29.

The Sooners also need one more Big 12 win to reach 150 in eight years.

HILL RECORDS MILESTONES
Senior Caton Hill has surpassed several milestones already this season including moving up to No. 10 on Oklahoma's all-time scoring list. The Ada, Okla., native tallied 26 points in OU's two games in Malibu, Calif., last weekend to take her career scoring total to 1,304 points in three-plus years. Hill already holds the school record for most defensive boards (602).

REMEMBER WHEN?
SMU came to the Lloyd Noble Center an upset then-15th ranked Oklahoma and ended its 26-game home winning streak, a streak that ranked second in the nation at the time. The Mustangs went back to Dallas with a 71-68 victory over OU on Dec. 21, 2003. In that game, SMU suffered a season ending injury (ACL & dislocated left knee) to center Kim Walters. Walters is a senior on this year's team.

PRESTON STEPPING UP
Some thought sophomore Beky Preston wouldn't play as big of a role on this year's team with the return of senior standout Caton Hill. Preston and the coaching staff knew different as the 6-3 center blossomed during the offseason, gaining confidence and strength to improve her game.
That confidence and strength was evident this past weekend as the Albuquerque, N.M., native was named the Most Valuable Player of the Yellow Book Turkey Shoot Out, a tournament that OU won. Preston averaged 6.0 rebounds and 11.0 points per game, while shooting 60 percent (9-15) from the field. Against Siena, she hit 6-of-7 shots (85.7%) from the field and all four attempted free throws for a career-best 16 points. Preston also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds against Pepperdine.

ICE-ICE BABY
OU is currently the Big 12's top free throw shooting team with 79.4 and has three players who have yet to miss a free throw on the season: Maria Villarroel (17-17), Caton Hill (12-12), Krista Sanchez (6-6) and Erin Higgins (4-4). Higgins has not missed a free throw in a Sooner uniform. She made all six attempted foul shots against Tennessee before being sidelined last season.

Of Oklahoma's 353 points scored this year 23 percent (81) have come from the foul line.

FUMBLERS
The only thing stopping Oklahoma's offensive from being more powerful than it already is, is its ability to take care of the basketball. OU is averaging an unsound 21.0 turnovers per game, a figure that ranks the Sooners eighth in turnover margin (+0.50) and 11th in assists/turnover ratio (0.63) in the league. Head coach Sherri Coale would like to see that number cut in half.

NINE SOONERS SHOOTING 50% OR BETTER
Impressive. Nine Sooners are shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Leading the way is OU “sixth-man” Leah Rush. The rookie has hit 15-of-23 shots for a impressive 65.2 field goal accuracy. Another freshman hitting 60 percent is Krista Sanchez. She's connected on 6-of-10 shots, while senior Caton Hill has made 21-of-34 shots for a 61.8 percentage. Senior guard Maria Villarroel, who ranked 14th in the NCAA in field goal percentage last season, is shooting 51.2 percent, making 22-of-43 shots.

Impressive. Oklahoma has shot better than 50 percent from the field in three consecutive games, hitting 92-of-159 shots (57.9%). OU has also shot 78.2 percent (68-87) from the free throw line and 34.4 from the arc (11-32).

GOLD RUSH
Freshman Leah Rush as stepped up to the challenge of NCAA Division I women's basketball. The rookie from Armillo, Texas comes off the bench to rank among OU's top three with 4.8 rebounds per game. She tops the team with a 65.2 field goal percentage and ranks third in points per game (11.5). Rush grabbed a career-best 11 boards in her collegiate debut against ORU and scored a personal-best 16 points in her first Lloyd Noble Center outing.

SOONERS CLEAN GLASS
Oklahoma's 68 rebounding performance against ORU 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. OU's 32 offensive boards were more than ORU had as a team, 23.

The school record is 75 set against Cameron on Nov. 30, 1982.

COALE LOOKS TO BECOME OU'S WINNING COACH
Eighth year head coach Sherri Coale is seven victories shy of becoming Oklahoma's all-time winningest women's basketball coach. The Healdton, Okla., native has produced 136 career wins, six shy of matching Maura McHugh's 142. Coale's 61.3 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
* Senior Caton Hill is 137 rebounds short of 1,000 and 196 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 20 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 282 career assists and needs 17 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.

WE'RE BACK
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. Since then, OU has moved up to No. 16 on the AP poll and No. 20 on the ESPN/USA Today/Coaches poll.

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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

OU Travels to Dallas to Face SMU Wednesday

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