OU Opens Big 12 Hoops Action

Oklahoma (8-3)
at
No. 13/14 Texas Tech (9-2)

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Arena: United Spirit Arena (15,050)
Tip: 7 p.m.
TV: TTTV (UPN Lubbock)
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM) Sooners Sports Network
Series: Texas Tech leads the all-time series, 19-10.

Oklahoma (8-3) opens its 2005 Big 12 Conference schedule on a four-game winning streak. OU heads to Lubbock, Texas for the first of two conference games against Texas Tech (9-2). The Sooners will face the Lady Raiders on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m., inside the United Spirit Arena. Wednesday will also be Tech conference opener. The Lady Raiders defeated Idaho State, 86-52, Sunday.

Sooner fans can listen to the women's basketball game on the Sooner Sports Network. OU's Bill Pink and Tara DeGiusti will call the action on KOKC-AM (1520). The game will also air locally in Lubbock, Texas, on UPN-TV with Vinnie Vinzetta (play-by-play) and Crystal Boles (color analyst) calling the game.

Sooner and Plainview, Texas, native Chelsi Welch averages 17.0 points and 3.0 rebounds when playing TTU. Welch, a redshirt sophomore, faced the Lady Raiders twice as a freshman (2002-03). Amarillo native and OU sophomore Leah Rush averaged 7.5 points and 8.0 rebounds against Tech last year. Both player were recruited by Texas Tech's coach Marsha Sharp.

After losing two straight in early December, OU has rattled off victories against Henderson State, 87-44 (+43), then-No. 25 Utah, 72-59 (+13), traditional powerhouse Louisiana Tech, 86-59 (27) and SMS, 74-71 (+3). In these wins, Oklahoma has shot 45.4 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from the three-point line. The Sooners have also outrebounded each opponent and dished out 82 assists compared to just 34 by their foes. In addition, five players averaged double digits in scoring and five collected at least five rebounds per game in the last four games -- a much improved production distribution among the Sooners. Four of OU's five starters averaged 10-plus points and shot better than 40 percent from the field.

Following its trip to Lubbock, Texas, Oklahoma returns home to host Texas A&M. OU faces the Aggies inside the Lloyd Noble Center on Sun., Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. This will be the first of four Big 12 Sunday games for OU. The Sooners are 5-0 at home.

OKLAHOMA (8-3)
Oklahoma closed its non-conference schedule with a 43-point victory over NCAA Division II Henderson State. The Sooners dominated the Lady Reddies in every area of the game, including a +17 advantage on the boards as all but one player earned a rebound. All 12 Sooners saw action and four finished the evening with 10-or-more points.

OU suffered three losses in non-conference play but ended that part of the season on a four-game winning steak and a consistent lineup. The Sooners are now set to begin Big 12 Conference action as they have been shooting 45.4 percentage from the field, 39.8 from the three-point line and 75.9 from the stripe over the last four games. OU has also outrebounded its last four opponents by +11.0, 45.0-34.0.

Oklahoma continues to be lead by senior All-America candidate Dionnah Jackson. The 5-9 point guard has been the team's leader for the past three seasons. She currently tops the squad in 10 categories including scoring (14.5), rebounding (7.8) assists (5.0), steals (2.5) and blocks (1.4).

Sophomore Leah Rush ranks second on the squad with 12.5 ppg and 7.1 rpg. OU has four additional players contributing five-plus points per game; Chelsi Welch (8.5), Erin Higgins (8.3), Lauren Shoush (5.7) and Beky Preston (5.2).

Head coach Sherri Coale has 11 players that are averaging 10-plus minutes per game. Only Jackson, Rush and Higgins are playing 20 minutes or more per contest.

As a team, Oklahoma is averaging 72.5 points and 43.2 rebounds per game. The Sooners are shooting 32.6 percent from the three-point range and an improved 42.0 percent from the field. OU also holds a +7.2 edge on the boards, 43.2-36.0.

TEXAS TECH (9-2)
Texas Tech has always been a traditional power house in women's basketball, winning the national title in 1992-93. The Lady Raiders have been ranked among the top 25 in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Polls all season and currently stands at No. 13/14 in each, respectively (as of Dec. 31).

TTU enters its Big 12 opener with a 9-2 mark with recent wins over Sacramento State, 83-37, and Idaho State, 86-52. Against ISU Sunday, TTU was led by Chesley Dabbs' 18 points, followed by LaToya Davis' 16 points and 10 rebounds. Cisti Greenwalt added 15 points and had nine boards.

The Lady Raiders are lead by Greenwalt, a 6-5 senior, who averages 14.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Greenwalt has produced a Big 12 best six double-doubles on the season and leads the league in rebounding and blocks (4.2) per game.

Sophomore guard Alesha Robertson tops four Tech players who averages double digits in points with 14.9 per game. Dabbs (13.2) and Davis (11.1) also average better than 10 points per game. Junior point guard Erin Grant averages 6.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg and a league-best 6.0 assists per game.

Tech leads the league in scoring defense, holding its opponents to just 50.5 ppg, scoring margin (+28.7), field goal percentage defense (.301), blocked shots (8.8) and assists (19.8) per game.

TTU returned two starters and seven letterwinners that went 25-8 and advanced to the NCAA second round before losing to Louisiana Tech, 81-64, last year.

Tech ranks second in the nation in home attendance, averaging 112,094 per game. TTU has also led the Big 12 in attendance for the past several years.

SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday will be the 40th meeting between Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The Lady Raiders hold a 19-10 all-time series advantage over the Sooners but OU has gone 7-2 over last four years, including sweeping the 2003-04 two-game series.

Texas Tech is 11-3 when playing OU in Lubbock, Texas.

HEAD COACHES
Sherri Coale (Oklahoma Christian, 1987) is in her ninth season as the head coach at Oklahoma. Coale has built an outstanding resume in that time, leading the Sooners to post season action the last six years, as well as one Final Four and three Big 12 regular-season titles. She has posted a 164-98 career record and coached in the national championship game in 2001-02, falling to undefeated Connecticut, 82-70. Since her arrival in 1996, more than 1 million fans have watched an OU women's basketball game. Before taking over the reigns of the OU program, Coale was the head coach at Norman High School from 1990-96, winning two Oklahoma 6A state titles in that time.

Texas Tech is coach by Marsha Sharp (Wayland Baptist, 1974). Sharp, one of the most well respected women's basketball coaches in the country, is a Hall of Famer with an overall record of 542-169 in 23 years. She had led Texas Tech to 17 NCAA Tournaments, 10 Sweet 16s, four Elite Eights and the 1993 NCAA National title.

Sharp was named the national coach of the year in 1993 and 1994 as well as being inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in May, 2003.

CONFERENCE OPENERS
Oklahoma is 7-1 in Big 12 openers and 5-1 in Big 12 home openers.

A YEAR AGO VS. TEXAS TECH
Oklahoma was the last team to beat Texas Tech on its home court that averages the nation's second largest per game attendance of 11,437 fans. The Sooners defeated Tech, 68-62, on Feb. 10, 2004.

In that game, Tech had a five point, 27-22, half time advantage but OU came out in the second half to take the lead for good on a jumper by former Sooner Caton Hill with 11:20 to play. OU saw its advantage bloom to 12 points twice. The Sooners sealed the game at the free throw line, hitting 14-of-17 attempted foul shots in the final two minutes.

JACKSON'S CLIMBING RECORD CHARTS
Senior Dionnah Jackson continues to move up in numerous OU career categories. The 5-9 point guard recently broke into OU's all-time scoring and rebounding charts when she had 16 points and 15 rebounds against TCU (D9). Jackson ranks among OU's greats in nine categories.

She's registered 1,213 points, 660 rebounds, 229 steals and 488 assists to name a few. The St. Louis, Mo., native highest ranking is third in defensive rebounds (514) and assists.

Possible Chart Moves for Jackson vs. Texas Tech
Needs 1 block for 5th
Needs 3 steals for 4th
Needs 5 free throw attempts for 12th
Needs 6 rebounds for 10th
Needs 8 points for 12th
Needs 28 minutes for 5th

JACKSON ASSISTING OTHERS
Senior Dionnah Jackson currently ranks third all-time at Oklahoma with 488 career assists to date behind all-time leader Stacey Dales-Schuman (764) and Sharee Mitchum (601).

Jackson has had two-straight seasons with +100 assists and currently has 55 11 games into her final campaign. She is one of only three Sooners to have recorded 400 or more assists and one of only two to have had a pair +160 assist seasons (Dales-Schuman is the other).

TAKE THAT
Dionnah Jackson is currently the shortest player listed on OU's all-time blocked shot chart. Jackson stands at 5-foot 9-inches and ranks No. 6 on the list. Former Sooner Marla Duncan, who is No. 9 on the chart with 29, stood 5-10. The players ranked higher then Jackson are at least 6-foot tall.

Jackson is also the ONLY player shorter than 5-10 to rank among the Big 12's top-7 in blocks per game.

IN SEARCH OF 500TH PROGRAM WIN
Oklahoma is 12 wins shy of reaching its 500 career victory. The 31-year old women's basketball program has 488 wins.

SOONERS SHUFFLE
Head coach Sherri Coale has put four different lineups on the court this season. But, Dionnah Jackson, Erin Higgins, Leah Rush, Chelsi Welch and Laura Andrews have lead OU to a 4-0 record in its last four games. Only Jackson, Rush and Higgins have started all 11 games and average better than 20 minutes per game.

Coale has played all available 13 players in three games and 11 players are averaging 10-plus minutes per game.

RUSH CARRYING INSIDE LOAD
Sophomore Leah Rush is carrying most of the load for the Sooners at the post position. The 6-1 forward accounts for 50.2 percent of OU's rebounding and 46 percent of its scoring from the post players (five). Overall, Rush is good for 17 percent of OU's points and 16 percent of its rebounds. The remaining four post players are responsible for 17% of the Sooners scoring and 19% of their rebounds, combined.

Rush has scored in double digits in seven of 11 games and has had eight or more rebounds in six games. The Amarillo, Texas native ranks second to Dionnah Jackson in scoring (12.5 ppg), rebounding (7.1) and blocks (9). Rush also ranks second in free throw percentage, hitting 83.7 percent of her shots (36-of-43), of players shooting more than 20 foul shots.

ONE FOR ALL, ALL FOR ONE
Oklahoma leads the Big 12 Conference in assists to field goals made ratio. OU has 204 assists to its 287 field goals made, meaning 71 percent of all of OU's field goals made are being assisted. This percentage is a clear reflection on how well OU's transition game and offensive execution is working this season. OU is the ONLY team in the Big 12 that has at least 70 percent of its field goals assisted.

Ranking second is Baylor and Texas Tech with 67 percent, while 66 percent of Kansas and Kansas State field goals are being assisted.

Eight OU players have already dished out at least 10 or more assists, lead by Dionnah Jackson's 55.

IMPRESSIVE FIGURES
Oklahoma has shot 40 percent or better from the field in eight games. In OU's three losses, the Sooners shot below 38 percent. No opponent has shot 50 percent or better against OU this season. Only SMS has hit better than 40 percent vs. Oklahoma. In addition, only SMS and Southeast Missouri State has shot 30 percent from three point land.

In the last four games, OU has also cut down on its turnovers. Oklahoma had a season-low 14 turnovers against Henderson State. OU also had just 14 turnovers against Tulsa (D4) and La Tech (D18). The Sooners are averaging 15.5 turnovers over the last four games. OU averaged 19.8 turnovers in its first five games.

Usually the smaller of the two teams on the court, OU has out rebounded nine of its 11 opponents.

In OU's first five games, the Sooners pocketed 12.4 steals per game. The last six games, OU has decreased in its steals with just 7.3 per game.

SHOUSH MAKING FINAL SEASON COUNT
Senior Lauren Shoush is making her final season her best. The Oklahoma City native has played in all 11 games this season and 85 in four-plus years. The 5-11 guard has improved numbers in every category this season including points and rebounds per game.

Shoush has had two games with 10-or-more points including a 13 point performance (second best in her career) against Akron in the Bahamas. She also had a career-best 10 rebounds in the season opener against Southeast Missouri State.

OU NOTABLES
Oklahoma's 62 rebounds against Henderson State on Dec. 29 is a Big 12 Conference single game best. The Sooners' 62 rebounds ties for second most under Coale. OU grabbed 68 against ORU and 62 vs. Oklahoma State last season. OU's 32 attempted treys against Akron (N26) ranks second in the league.

Leah Rush and Dionnah Jackson ranks among the Big 12 best for individual game performances. Rush hit 8-of-8 free throws vs. Southwest Missouri on Dec. 11, tying her for first, with three others, for best free throw percentage (100%) in a single game. Jackson's career-high nine steals against Iowa is also a single game best.

Dionnah Jackson is one of three players in the Big 12 Conference that has had five or more double doubles this season. Texas Tech's Cisti Greenwalt has a league best six DD, while Jackson and Baylor's Sophia Young have produced five each.

OU is one of ONLY two teams in the Big 12 Conference that has made 75 or more three pointers. Iowa State has connected on 98 treys. (as of Dec. 31)

OU has scored 80-plus points four times ... shot 50 percent or better from the three-point line three times ... has had 40-plus rebounds seven times ... 20 or more assists has been distributed in six different games, only one OU opponent has had a 20-plus assists game.

Individual Notable: Chelsi Welch is a flawless 23-of-23 from the free throw line. The school record is 29-straight set by LaNeishea Caufield during the 2000-01 season. Caufield is OU's record holder in free throws made (693), free throw attempted (826) and free throw percentage (.839). Dionnah Jackson and Leah Rush have each scored 20-plus points twice this season ... Erin Higgins has hit five three-pointers in two games ... OU has eight players with 10 or more assists and three different players have collected at least 10 rebounds in a single game.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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