Oklahoma Heads to Iowa State Looking For First Win In Ames

MEDIA INFORMATION
No. 15/16 Oklahoma Sooners (13-2, 3-1 Big 12) at Iowa State Cyclones (8-6, 1-2 Big 12)

Date & Time: Tues., Jan. 20 @ 7 p.m.
Site: James H. Hilton Coliseum (14,092) - Ames, Iowa
Series Record: OU leads 24-15
Tickets: To purchase tickets call the ISU's Athletic Ticket Office at 515-294-1816.
Radio: Sooner Sports Network - KOMA-AM (1520); Brian Brinkley (play-by-play) and Tara Robinett (analyst). All broadcasts also are available through the OU athletics web site.
TV: none
Rankings: OU - 15 (AP)/16 (ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls) ... ISU - not ranked
Real-Time Stats: Live in-game statistics are available through ISU's athletics web site.
Web Site: Oklahoma (www.SoonerSports.com), Iowa State (www.cyclones.com)

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA (13-2)                     PPG                    RPG
10    F    Caton Hill                         13.7                    6.1
24    F    Leah Rush                       8.7                     4.9
34    G    Erin Higgins                     4.8                      2.4
35    G    Dionnah Jackson            10.4                    5.7
5    G    Maria Villarroel              15.3                    5.5

IOWA STATE (8-6)                      PPG                     RPG
11    F    Mary Fox                         6.2                       4.8
45    F    Lisa Kriener                    9.8                        5.6
51    C    Brittany Wilkins               8.4                        5.6
12    G    Anne O'Neil                    13.9                      3.9
10    G    Erica Junod                     9.1                       4.0

TUESDAY PREVIEW
      Oklahoma takes a two-game winning streak to Ames, Iowa, to face the Iowa State Cyclones on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. inside the James H. Hilton Coliseum. The Sooners are winless in Ames under current head coach Sherri Coale. Coale is 1-7 against ISU, while current Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly is 8-2 vs. OU.
      The Sooners, who are ranked 15th in the AP and 16th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls, have earned an overall record of 13-2 and 3-1 in the Big 12. ISU sports an 8-6 and 1-2 marks.
      Tuesday will be the 40th-game between the two programs, with OU holding a current 24-15 all-time series advantage. Prior to last season's win in Norman, Oklahoma had lost eight straight and nine of the last 10 to the Cyclones. Five Sooners on this year's team played a role in Coale's first win over Iowa State in 2003.
      Iowa State's Anne O'Neil is the only Cyclone averaging double figures at 13.9 ppg, while OU has three players contributing better than 10 ppg. Senior Maria Villarroel leads the squad with 15.3 point (17.3 in Big 12 play) per game, followed by senior Caton Hill's 13.7 and junior Dionnah Jackson's 10.4 ppg. Hill is the team's leading rebounder at 6.1 boards per game (7.8 rpg in league play).
      The Sooners take the Big 12's second best three-point field goal percentage defense (.258) and scoring offense (78.3 ppg) to Ames, while ISU ranks eighth (.323) and ninth (67.5 ppg) best in the league in these two categories.

OU-IOWA STATE SERIES
      Oklahoma leads the all-time series 24-15 over Iowa State, however, the Cyclones have won nine of the last 11 games.
      OU snapped Iowa State's eight-game winning streak last season with a 61-48 victory in Norman, giving head coach Sherri Coale her first win over ISU.
      In that game, junior Dionnah Jackson knocked down a career-best 5-of-7 three-pointers for a team-high 20 points. She also had seven rebounds and dished out seven assists. Senior Maria Villarroel added 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double. She also hit 9-of-12 free throws.
      For the game, OU shot 36.0 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from the arc. ISU shot 30.0 percent from the field but was only able to connect on one of 23 attempts from the three-point line, a season-low for the Cyclones. The Sooners outrebounded the Cyclones, 43-38.

OKLAHOMA (13-2, 3-1 BIG 12)
      Oklahoma erased its troubles of not being about to put the basketball in the hoop against Oklahoma State Saturday. Not only did OU scored a Big 12 season-high 87 points against the Cowgirls but OU also recored season highs in eight other categories, including field goals made (28), field goals attempted (72), 3-point field goals made (10), 3-point field goals attempted (27), 3-point percentage (37.0%), free throws made (21), free throws attempted (30), rebounds (62) and assists (16).
      OU's 62 rebounds is its second-highest total of the season, just six off its season high of 68 set against Oral Roberts in the first game of the season. Both figures rank No. 1 and 2 for most rebounds in a single game in the Sherri Coale era.
      Saturday's scoring outburst also allowed the Sooner bench to contribute as OU received 37 points, matching OSU's point total for the game.
      Oklahoma's rebounding and defensive pressure remains strong focal points for the team. The Sooners averaged an impressive 60.5 rebounds per game last week and held opponents to just 26.6 percent from the field and 27.0 percent from the three-point line. OU currently ranks first in the Big 12 Conference for best scoring defense, allowing only 51.8 ppg, field goal percentage, holding opponents to just 29.8 percent, and steals, pocketing 10.5 spg in Big 12 play. OU's +10.0 rebounding margin also ranks third best in league play.
      The Sooners have a well-balanced attack from its front and back courts. Senior guard Maria Villarroel (15.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, .580 FG%) has been a vital piece of Oklahoma's transition game for the past two seasons. She has scored in double digits in all but one game (Utah) and leads the team with 15.3 points per game. She scored a season-high 24 points in the win at Stephen F. Austin by hitting 10-of-12 shots. Against Texas A&M, she had her second career double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds, the most rebounds from a guard in Big 12 play. She currently ranks fourth in the league for best field goal percentage, shooting 58.0 and averages 13.0 points and 10.0 rebounds when playing ISU.
      Junior Dionnah Jackson (10.4 ppg, team-high 5.2 apg, 5.7 rpg, .833 FT%) is in her second season as the everyday point guard for the Sooners. Jackson is getting her points as a slasher, driving to the basket and creating havoc for opposing defenses. When playing ISU, she averages 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. In conference games, she leads the Big 12 in steals (3.50), ranks third in assists (5.25), fifth in assists/turnover ratio (2.1), sixth in blocked shots (1.50) and defensive rebounds (5.50) per game. Jackson earned a spot on the Pepperdine All-Tournament team, after averaging 12 points, three rebounds and three steals per game plus shot 68.8 percent from the field.
      Senior forward and preseason All-America candidate Caton Hill (13.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, three double-doubles) has lived up to her accolades. She leads the team in three-point field goal shooting (.415) and threes made per game (1.1). Since the start of the Big 12 play, Hill has almost doubled her rebounding efforts. She's grabbing 7.8 rpg in Big 12 action as to 5.1 rpg against non-conference opponents. She was named OU's MVP of the Bertha Teague Classic on Nov. 22 after scoring 17 points with the assistance of three 3s against ORU in the season opener. She then piled up back-to-back double-doubles on the road at SMU (14p, 10r) and Montana State (23p, 10r). At MSU, she hit a career-best 8-of-10 shots (80%), was 4-of-4 from the arc (100%) and 3-of-4 from the foul line (75%). She now has a school record 32 career double-doubles and moved up to No. 2 on the all-time rebounding list after collecting nine against then-No. 2 Tennessee on Dec. 21. She's 131 shy of tying the school record in this category.
      Freshman forward Leah Rush (8.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, .800 FT%, .490 FG%) has been outstanding in the last two games. During this time span, she's averaging 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Plus hitting 49.0 percent of her shots from the field and 80.0 percent from the free throw line. She appeared in her first starting lineup at Texas A&M, producing a career-best 17 points and 10 rebounds. Rush was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week after scoring 15 points and grabbing six boards as well as shooting 50 percent from the field against No. 3 Texas in Austin. She also made and attempted career-best 7-of-14 field goals. Rush has scored 10-plus points in six games
      Sophomore guard Laura Andrews (4.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .333 3pt-FG%) and redshirt-freshman Erin Higgins (4.8 ppg, .321 3-pt. FG%) have been splitting time at the shooting guard position as of late. Andrews, a native of Washington, Okla., has been gradually increasing her playing time over the past five games. She's gone from playing 11.4 minutes to 19.4 minutes per game. Andrews scored a season-best 11 points against Illinois and Wichita State and has hit 11 of her 16 three-pointers during this time span.
      Higgins came off the bench at Texas A&M to end a four game streak of going scoreless from the three-point line. The three-point specialist canned two crucial treys in OU's come-from-behind 65-56 overtime win at Texas A&M. She also hit two threes against Oklahoma State. Higgins has also improved her rebounding efforts, averaging 5.0 boards over the last two games.
     Continuing to make OU's bench one of the deepest in the Big 12 Conference are players like sophomore Beky Preston (6.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg), junior Lauren Shoush (5.2 ppg, 1.5 apg) and freshman Britney Brown (2.6 ppg, 1.2 apg. Each have made important contributions to the team's success this season. Preston has appeared among the top five in 13 games. She is tied for third on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game and was named MVP of the Pepperdine Invitational in November. Shoush has been the spark plug off the bench for the Sooners. She has scored 10-plus points twice (10 at SMU and a career-high 18 at Montana State). Brown has played valuable minutes in relief of Jackson at the point guard position. She took then-No. 19/23 Utah for a career-high 10 points, burying two three-pointers and hitting 4-of-7 shots in the 73-65 OU win.

UP NEXT
Oklahoma returns home for a true double-header with the men's basketball team on Saturday, Jan. 24. The Sooner men will host Kansas State at 12:30 p.m., while the women face Baylor at 3:30 p.m. inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
Baylor (14-3, 2-2 Big 12) is currently ranked 24th in the nation and leads the Big 12 Conference with 80.0 points per game. The Lady Bears upset then No. 3 Texas, 78-64, in Waco on Jan. 14, and suffered a 64-63 loss to No. 1 Texas Tech in Lubbock on Jan. 17. Three BU players average double digits in points.

WADSWORTH HAS SOLID PERFORMANCE
Sophomore Antoinette Wadsworth scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds in just 13 minutes of action against Oklahoma Saturday. The Grand Prairie, Texas, native also
hit her first three-pointer of her career and shot 50.0 percent from the field, hitting 3-of-6 shots. Wadworth matched her career-best of four offensive rebounds.
The 5-11 forward has scored in eight and had a rebound in nine of 12 games she has played in this season. For the year, she's averaging 2.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

COALE WORKING TOWARD ANOTHER MILESTONE
Sooner Coach Sherri Coale looks to surpass another milestone in her coaching career this season. The eighth-year head coach has 145 career victories and looks to collect her 150th before season ends. If the Sooners win their next five games, Coale will reach this milestone at home against Texas A&M on Feb. 7th.

RUSH SHINES IN FIRST START
      Freshman Leah Rush produced her first collegiate double-double against Texas A&M in College Station to assist OU to a 65-56 overtime victory. In her first start, Rush recorded a career-high 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds (three offensive and seven defensive) while playing a personal-best 37 minutes. She also made and attempted a career-high 9-of-11 free throws, including four in overtime. The Amarillo, Texas, native scored six of OU's 10 points in OT.
      She leads the team with 10 block shots and is shooting a solid 49.0 percent from the field and 80.0 percent from the free throw line.
      She ranks among the Big 12 freshmen top 10 in four different categories including third in rebounding (4.9 rpg) and eighth in scoring (8.7 ppg).
      Rush grabbed a career-best 11 boards in her collegiate debut against ORU on Nov. 22, and has scored in double digits six times.

SOONERS SAVE BEST FOR LAST
Oklahoma seems to be saving the best for last as the Sooners are currently averaging 39 points in the final 20 minutes of play against Big 12 teams, as opposed to 28.5 ppg before intermission.
In the only overtime game of the season, OU outscored Texas A&M, 10-1.

REBOUNDING WARRIOR
Senior Caton Hill has proven she's a warrior on the boards by becoming Oklahoma's all-time defensive rebounder before being sidelined last year. The 6-1 forward has 659 defensive boards for her career and currently averages a Big 12 best 7.00 per game against league opponents
The Ada, Okla., native also ranks eighth in Big 12 rebounding (7.8) and 21st in scoring (11.0). (in Big 12 games)

VILLARROEL STEPPING UP PLAY
Senior Maria Villarroel has stepped up her play since the start of the Big 12 Conference schedule. The 5-8 guard currently ranks in the top-20 in scoring (3rd), field goal percentage (5th), steals (4th) and rebounding (18th).
In Big 12 play, she's averaging an impressive 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Before conference play, she was scoring 14.5 ppg and had 5.1 rpg.

HIGGINS BREAKS OUT
Redshirt-freshman Erin Higgins came off the bench against Texas A&M to end a four game streak of going scoreless from the three-point line. The three-point specialist canned two crucial treys in OU's come-from-behind 65-56 overtime win vs. the Aggies. She ended the night with six points and a career-high five rebounds.
She continued her scoring from beyond the arc by hitting two treys against Oklahoma State Saturday.
Higgins contributes 4.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Of her 21 field goals made, 17 have been from beyond the arc.

COALE'S IMPROVES OVERTIME RECORD
With the 65-56 overtime win at Texas A&M last Wednesday the Sooners improved their record to 4-2 in extra periods under coach Sherri Coale. Ironically, Coale's first overtime loss came against current TAM coach Gary Blair when he served as Arkansas' head women's basketball coach in 1999. The Razorbacks defeated OU in overtime in the second round of the WNIT, 97-93, in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 14, 1999.
OU was down by as many as 13 points in the second half, the largest deficit of the season that the Sooners have come back to win.

RUSH NAMED BIG 12 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Leah Rush was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week after scoring 15 points, 11 in the second half, against No. 3 Texas last Saturday. She also had six rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot in 27 minutes of action against UT, where her older sister (Katie) attends school. The Amarillo, Texas, native canned 50 percent of her shots, hitting a career-best seven-of-14 field goals.
Rush's points and rebounds against the Longhorns were the second-most for the freshman at that time since then she scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed 10 boards at Texas A&M.

THE RECORD TO WATCH
Senior Caton Hill is 57 rebounds short of 1,000 and 50 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.

TIME SHARE
Head coach Sherri Coale has her deepest team in eight years. The Sooners can go as deep as 10 and currently have nine players averaging better than 10 minutes per contest. All but one player averages five minutes or more per outing.
Seven players have played in all 14 games and 11 have seen action in at least 12 games.

JACKSON SOLID ACROSS THE BOARD
      Junior Dionnah Jackson may not be flashy in how she scores, rebounds or passes the basketball but her production across the board deserves a standing ovation. The St. Louis, Mo., native has one of the most impressive stat line in the Big 12 Conference.
      Jackson averages 10.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.7 steals per game plus shots 46.9 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free throw line as a 5-9 point guard. She ranks among the league's best in five categories (steals [2nd], assists/turnover ratio [4th], assists [3rd], defensive rebounds [10th], scoring [27th]) and is OU's second best rebounder at 5.7 rpg and is tied for first on the team for best free throw shooter, hitting 25-of-30 foul shots (83.3 FT%).
      Over the last four games, she's dished out 5.3 assists, pocketed 3.5 steals and grabbed 6.3 rebounds per game, while scoring 8.5 points a game.
      Jackson has had more assists than turnovers in 13-of-15 games, including seven assists to zero turnovers in the season opener against ORU, six assists to zero turnovers vs. Nebraska and seven assists to just one turnover against then-No. 2 Tennessee.

RACKIN' UP
Oklahoma is one of the best offensive scoring teams in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners are averaging 78.3 points per game (second best in the league) and have racked up 80-plus points against eight different opponents this season. OU has also surpassed the 90-point plateau three times.

JACKSON'S FOUND HER ZONE
      Junior Dionnah Jackson has been instrumental to OU's success over the past two-plus years. Jackson spent her first season as the Sooners “sixth man” relieving OU greats Stacey Dales and LaNeishea Caufield during the 2002 NCAA Final Four season. She moved into a position of leadership and director of the team after the program suffered numerous injuries last season. A role she wasn't quite ready for or comfortable with as a sophomore.
      With Caton Hill, Erin Higgins and Casey Walker healthy, Jackson has found a comfort zone she excels in, one of a leader but not necessary the director.
      Jackson ranks among the top three in 12 of OU's 16 statistical categories, including first in defensive rebounds (4.7), assists (5.1) and steals (2.7) per game. Jackson's field goal shooting has improved as well, hitting 46.9 percent of her shots, compared to last year's 42.5 percent. Her biggest jump has been at the free throw line where she's hitting 83.3 percent. A year ago, she connected on just 69.3 percent of foul shots taken.

HOME ATTENDANCES RANKINGS OUT
      OU's game against Tennessee ranks as the 20th best attended women's basketball game of the 2003-04 season. OU-UT drew a record setting 12,080 fans, the most ever to witness a women's basketball game in the state of Oklahoma. The previous best was 11,245 set during the NCAA Tournament second-round game between OU and Villanova on March 18, 2002. The previous best for an OU regular season home game was 10,713 when the Sooners hosted Connecticut on Dec. 29, 1999.
      Connecticut ranks No. 1 for the seventh-straight week, bringing in an average of 14,252 fans per home game. Oklahoma ranks 14th in the nation with 5,903 fans per home game (as of Jan. 19).
      Eight of the Big 12's teams rank among the nation's top-50 in home attendance average, including four in the top-12.

OU AMONG ELITE PROGRAMS
Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas are the only Universities in the Big 12 Conference to have its men's and women's basketball teams ranked among the AP top-25. Overall, seven universities across the nation have both programs ranked: Connecticut, Duke, Stanford, North Carolina, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

JACKSON ON EDGE OF ASSISTS MARK
Junior Dionnah Jackson dished out seven assists against No. 2 Tennessee on Dec. 21 and eight vs. Illinois to move up to the No. 5 spot on Oklahoma career assists list. She currently has 352 and looks to move past Angie Alexander's 367 (+22) and LaNeishea Caufield's 377 (+32) before season ends.
Sooner great and ESPN analyst Stacey Dales-Schuman holds the school record with 764 assists. Dales is the only player to have scored more than 1,900 points, grabbed 700 plus rebounds and dished out more than 700 assists in a Sooner uniform.

SOONER BENCH POWER
Out of Oklahoma's 1,174 points scored this season 35.0 percent (407 points) has come from its bench. The Sooners have scored 20-or-more points from its non-starters in 11 of OU's 15 games, including 37 points from its reserves against Oklahoma State (the same total OSU scored as a team).
As a group, OU reserves have outscored the opponent subs 407-219. The largest differences between the two benches was when OU got 37 points to Southeast Missouri State's 6 (+31).

JUST IN CASE YOU WANTED TO KNOW
Oklahoma has shot 40 percent or better from the field in 10 games, while holding nine opponents to below that figure ... no team has shot 50 percent or better against the Sooners ... from the three-point line only one team has shot over 40 percent vs. OU (Tennessee, 43.8% [7-of-16]) ... OU ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in three-point field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 25.8 percent from beyond the arc ... Oklahoma has dished out more assists than its opponent in every game this season and has had more steals in all but one game (vs. Tennessee) ... the Sooners have been outrebounded four times ... OU freshmen class account for 27.2 percent of the team's total offense (319) points) while the starters are responsible for 66.8 percent of the points (785) and 54.8 percent of its rebounds (368) ... largest margin of victory this season has been 50 points over Oklahoma State (J17) ... the Sooners have hit 50 percent or better from the field in seven games ... OU has set two team record under the Sherri Coale Era, most team rebounds (68) and most attempted shots (80) against ORU (N22).

SOONERS CLEAN GLASS
     Oklahoma's 68 rebounding performance against ORU to open the season marked the most impressive glass cleaning under current head coach Sherri Coale. OU's 62 boards against Oklahoma State ranks second best under Coale.
      Prior to this season, 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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Heads to Iowa State Looking For First Win In Ames

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