Coale Happy With Basketball Scrimmage

NORMAN, Okla. -- After seven days of practice, the University of Oklahoma hosted its first intrasquad women's basketball scrimmage Sunday inside the Lloyd Noble Center.

After a 30-minute warm-up, the Sooners played five 10-minute quarters, mixing up the lineups in each. Overall, nine players scored 10 points or more and 10 collected at least five rebounds. The scores were close each quarter, revealing OU's depth at each position.

Scrimmage Photo Gallery

“We competed and played at the tempo that we want to push,” said Sooner head coach Sherri Coale. “For eight days in, I was extremely pleased. It was incredibly competitive and every quarter was tight.”

Coale praised the all-around performances of sophomore Britney Brown, junior Beky Preston and senior Lauren Shoush. Brown's defensive intensity was outstanding, while Preston's and Shoush's offensive performances were solid with 20 and 18 points, respectively.

Preseason All-American and Sooner co-captain Dionnah Jackson also had a very productive day with 14 points and a scrimmage-high 12 rebounds. Sophomores Leah Rush and Chelsi Welch, who returns after an ACL injury a year ago, were stellar as well. Rush had a scrimmage-high 21 points and 11 rebounds while Welch added 20 points, 15 in the first two quarters, with the assistance of four three-pointers and had four boards.

Oklahoma's freshmen Stephanie McGhee and Kelly Lam got an opportunity to show their competitive side Sunday. McGhee ended the day with a scrimmage-high five made threes and 21 points, tying Rush for most points. Lam had six rebounds and seven points.

Sunday's goals were to push the tempo, play at an uncomfortable pace, rebound and take care of the basketball. Coale feels her team turned in solid performances in each area.

“For the past seven practices we have been working on playing at an uncomfortable pace and pushing the tempo,” said Coale. “We did that today. We established how we want to play offensively and it prepares our defensive transition which is always one of the first things we look to try to improve upon.”

OU returns 60 percent of the team's scoring and 62 percent of its rebounding as well as three starters from a year ago. In all, Coale has 12 letterwinners back from the 2003-04 team that went 24-9 and swept the Big 12 Tournament as a No. 6 seed, becoming the first team in Big 12 history to beat four opponents in five days.

Oklahoma has won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles two of the last four years.

“They are a very competitive group,” said Coale. “They are making each other better because of that. The mindset of this team is that losing is not acceptable.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors