WBB Earns Another Top 25 Ranking

NORMAN, Okla. Just days prior to the start of the 2004-05 season, the University of Oklahoma women's basketball program earns its second preseason top 25 ranking. The Sooners appear at No. 23 in the latest Street and Smith's Women's Basketball Preseason Poll. Fellow Big 12 members Texas (No. 3), Texas Tech (No. 9) and Baylor (No. 10) also appear in the poll.

OU earned a preseason top 25 ranking of No. 17 in Lindy's Magazine last month.

With preseason rankings being announced, head coach Sherri Coale is set to begin practice at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16 inside the Lloyd Noble Center. Coale returns 60 percent of last year's team scoring and 62 percent of its rebounding. OU, winner of the 2004 Big 12 Tournament title, welcomes back 12 letterwinners and three starters that produced an overall record of 24-9 and made its fifth straight NCAA Tournament.

Senior Dionnah Jackson and sophomore Chelsi Welch will lead the 2004-05 Sooners. Jackson, a preseason All-American and national player of the year candidate, is the Sooners top returning scorer and rebounder as she averaged 12.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg as a junior. The 5-9 point guard has also led Oklahoma in assists (5.0) and steals (2.3) per game for the past two seasons. The St. Louis, Mo., native was named the 2004 Big 12 Tournament MVP after producing a team-high 17.0 points per game, followed by 8.3 rebounds.

Welch was named the 2003 co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year and earned All-Big 12 second team honors after averaging 12.1 points per game. The Plainview, Texas, native became just the third OU women's basketball player to ever earn freshmen All-American honors. She redshirted the 2003-04 season due to a knee injury.

Hitting the practice court for the first time will be freshmen Stephanie McGhee and Kelly Lam. Lam concluded her prep career with more than 1,000 points and averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds as a senior at Brookfield East High School in Milwaukee, Wis. McGhee, arguably the greatest girls basketball player in state history, set Oklahoma's five-on-five scoring mark of 3,376 points. The Howe product averaged 30 points per game since her freshman season.

The first opportunity for Sooner fans to see the 2004-05 team in action will be on Thursday, Nov. 4, in the first of two exhibition games for OU. Oklahoma will face Latvia on Nov. 4, followed by Oklahoma Christian on Nov. 11. Both exhibition games will be played at Lloyd Noble Center at 7 p.m.

Street & Smith's Preseason Top 25
1. Tennessee
2. LSU
3. Texas
4. Georgia
5. Connecticut
6. Duke
7. Stanford
8. Rutgers
9. Texas Tech
10. Baylor
11. Notre Dame
12. Michigan State
13. North Carolina
14. Purdue
15. Boston College
16. Chattanooga
17. Minnesota
18. Vanderbilt
19. Ohio State
20. Penn State
21. Villanova
22. UNLV
23. Oklahoma
24. Utah
25. UCLA

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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