University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Basketball Earns Top 25 Ranking

Oklahoma Basketball Earns Top 25 Ranking

September 24, 2004 | Women's Basketball

By: Athletics Communications

Norman, Okla.   The University of Oklahoma women's basketball program has earn a preseason national ranking of No. 17 in Lindy's Magazine released earlier this week.

Oklahoma returns 60 percent of the team's scoring, 62 percent of its rebounding as well as 75 percent of its assists from the 2004 team that produced an overall record of 24-9 and made its fifth straight NCAA Tournament. OU head coach Sherri Coale also returns 12 letterwinners and three starters from the 2004 Big 12 Tournament championship team, a team that made league history by winning four games in five days.

Senior All-America candidate Dionnah Jackson and 2003 Big 12 Freshman of the Year Chelsi Welch will lead the 2004-05 Sooners. Jackson, a native of St. Louis, Mo., 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. She was named the 2004 Big 12 Tournament MVP after producing a team-high 17.0 points per game, followed by 8.3 rebounds.

Welch, who missed the 2003-04 season due to a knee injury, is set to return to action this season. As a freshman,  Welch averaged 12.1 points per game and earned All-Big 12 second team honors. The Plainview, Texas, native became just the third OU women's basketball player to ever earn freshmen All-American honors.

Fellow Big 12 members Texas (No. 3), Baylor (No. 8), Texas Tech (No. 12) and Kansas State (No. 19) also appear in the poll.

OU will hold its first of two exhibition games on Thursday, Nov. 4, against a Basketball Travelers team at Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma plays Oklahoma Christian in its second exhibition matchup on Nov. 11.

The Sooners open the regular season and home schedule on Nov. 19, against Southeast Missouri State followed by a Nov. 21 game vs. Texas State inside Lloyd Noble Center.


Lindy's Preseason Women's College Basketball Top 25
1. Tennessee
2. LSU
3. Texas
4. Georgia
5. Connecticut
6. Minnesota
7. Duke
8. Baylor
9. Stanford
10. Vanderbilt
11. Rutgers
12. Texas Tech
13. Ohio State
14. Notre Dame
15. Boston College
16. Louisiana Tech
17. Oklahoma
18. North Carolina
19. Kansas State
20. Arizona
21. Michigan State
22. UCLA
23. Purdue
24. DePaul
25. Utah

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