No. 19/20 Sooners Host TCU Wednesday

NORMAN, Okla -- The No. 19/20 Oklahoma women's basketball team (5-1) returns from a 3-1 road trip to face TCU (2-2) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. OU, which is off to the third best start of the Sherri Coale era, will look to avenge a 2004 loss to the Horned Frogs when the squads square off at the Lloyd Noble Center.

OU will ride the broad shoulders of two-time reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Week Courtney Paris, as well as Leah Rush and Erin Higgins, as they look to extend their winning streak to three games. Paris is leading the Big 12 in rebounding (12.3) and blocks (3.3), while ranking second in scoring (21.7) and third in field goal percentage (.667). The Piedmont, Calif., native is also leading all conference freshmen in scoring, rebounding and blocks.

Rush is coming off her best performance of the season when she hit 7-10 shots and scored 17 points to lead OU to the Odwalla Classic title. Rush is second on the team in scoring with an average of 9.8 points per game. Last season in the road loss to TCU, Rush scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

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Higgins has taken advantage of Paris' inside dominance by knocking down a Big 12 best 12 three-pointers. Higgins is logging a team-high 30.5 minutes per game while contributing 7.5 points per game. Higgins is also leading OU with an average of 3.0 assists per game.

Oklahoma will return to the road for the annual Bertha Teague Classic, in which it will face Oral Roberts (3-1) at Gallagher Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Sooners will return to Norman to host No. 23 UCLA (2-2) on Monday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.

Setting The Scene
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005
Location: Norman
Tipoff: 7 p.m. CST
Venue: Lloyd Noble Center (12,000)
TV: None
Webcast: O-Zone
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Radio Talent: Brian Brinkley (Play-by-Play) & Tara Degiusti
Tickets: (405) 456-GoOU
Promotions: Free schedule magnets

Player To Watch
Junior Leah Rush is coming off her best performance of the season when she tallied 17 points to help the Sooners stave off an upstart San Francisco squad in the Odwalla Classic title game. In last season's loss to TCU, Rush collected team-highs of 22 points and nine rebounds. OU will need a similar effort against an equally talented TCU squad on Wednesday. Additionally, Rush will be key on the defensive end as OU tries to slow down the TCU starting front line that combines for 31.3 points.

San Francisco Leftovers
Leah Rush scored 17 points and Kendra Moore made a key steal as No. 22 Oklahoma beat San Francisco 53-51 Saturday night to win the Odwalla Classic title.

Lisa Olden came off the bench to score a season-high 15 points and grab a career-high nine rebounds for San Francisco (1-3), and Dominique Carter added 10 points.

Oklahoma freshman Courtney Paris was held to 12 points and six rebounds - well below her averages of 23.6 points and 13.6 rebounds.

Though San Francisco never led in the game, the Dons overcame an early 15-point deficit to get within 50-49 on Shay Rollins' 3-pointer with 1:49 left.

Notes
*Courtney Paris extended her double figure scoring streak to six games with 12 points. She is the first player in OU history to score 10 or more points in the first six games of her career.

*Erin Higgins scored eight points and grabbed a season high five rebounds in 35 minutes of action. For the sixth consecutive game, all of Higgins scoring came in the first half.

*With Courtney Paris in foul trouble and only playing 23 minutes, junior Leah Rush stepped up her production with 17 points, including a clutch 10-footer in the final minutes of the win. It marked the third time she has scored in double figures this season.

*Courtney Paris made 6-7 free throws and 8-11 in the tourney.

An Immediate Impact
Coming into the season much was made of the potential impact of twin freshmen post players Ashley and Courtney Paris. Just six games into their careers, they are fulfilling the hype.

Two-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week Courtney Paris is averaging 21.7 points and 12.3 rebounds on the young season and has recorded four double-doubles. She needed just five games to reach 100 points - currently has 130 points on the season - which is an OU record.

Ashley is averaging 7.7 points and 7.0 rebounds and has earned all-tournament honors in both the Preseason WNIT and Odwalla Classic.

Stingy Sooners
OU is holding opponents to a .376 shooting percentage this season, which is 90 points lower than OU's mark of .466. The Sooners have held four of their six opponents under .400 from the field with a season best mark of .194 against SMU.

In the Big 12 ranks OU is number three in scoring defense (60.7) and No. 4 in field goal percentage defense (.376).

Additionally, OU owns a +45 (165-120) rebound advantage on the defensive boards.

TCU Tidbits
TCU is off to a 2-2 start with victories over Long Beach State and Mississippi State. The Horned Frogs have suffered double-digit losses to top-25 teams North Carolina and Georgia. The schedule does not get any easier for TCU, who travels to No. 21 USC before hosting Duke, who is splitting No. 1 votes with Tennessee.

Wednesday night's game with OU will be TCU's first true road test. The Horned Frogs played North Carolina and Mississippi State on a neutral court in Mexico.

Jeff Mittie is in his seventh season with TCU and owns a 284-199 career record. Mittie has led the Horned Frogs to five consecutive 20 wins seasons, a feat that is matched by 16 other Division I teams.

TCU is led by returning starters Natasha Lacy, Ashley Davis and Lori Butler-Rayord. Lacy, an off-guard, is leading the Horned Frogs in scoring with 12.7 per game. She is trailed by Davis (11.5 ppg) and Vanessa Clementino (10.5). Lacy, who stands 5-10, is also tied for the team lead in rebounds (8.5) with Butler-Rayford.

Last season OU suffered a 16-point loss at Daniel Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas. The Sooners were roasted by senior Sandora Irvin, who scored 32 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. Clementino also contributed 14 points in the 81-65 TCU win.

All-time, OU leads the series 9-2. OU won eight straight games against TCU from 1995-2003 and has never lost a home game in the series. The 2005 loss was the first since 1993.

Half of a Story
Junior Erin Higgins is yet to score in the second half of a game this season, but it is not due to lack of contribution in the early going. The junior sharp shooter is averaging a team-best 30.5 minutes per game and is fourth on the team at 7.5 points per game. All 45 of her points have come in the first 20 minutes when she is shooting 44 percent (16-36) from the field and 52 percent (12-23) from 3-point range. She also leads the Big 12 with 12 three-point makes.

Higgins has taken just 11 second half shots, 10 from behind the arc.

She has put together two memorable halves on the road. At the notorious Pit in New Mexico, Higgins hit for 12 points and helped the Sooners build a one-point half time lead. In the opening round of the Odwalla Classic, Higgins nailed four 3-pointers and collected 14 points to guide the Sooners to a big halftime lead and an easy victory over Iowa.

Paris Named Rookie of the Week Again
Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) was chosen Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week and Kiera Hardy (Nebraska) was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Player of the Week by a media voting panel for games played from Nov. 21-27.

Paris earned her second consecutive accolade and Hardy was honored for the third time in her career. Eight Sooners have claimed 13 Big 12 Rookie of the Week awards.

Paris led Oklahoma to a perfect 2-0 record and the Odwalla Classic Championship while averaging 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. The Piedmont, Calif., native was named tournament MVP after scoring 30 points against Iowa in the opening round and 12 points against San Francisco in the title game. Her 30 points and five blocks against Iowa were OU season highs. Additionally, she hit 63 percent of her shots (17-27) and 73 percent of her free throws (8-11).

The Paris Record
Below are the records that freshman Courtney Paris has set in six games:
* The fastest player to 100 points in OU history, she needed just five games to eclipse the century mark.
*Set an OU freshman debut record with 24 points in the opener against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
* Set a Preseason WNIT single game record with 20 rebounds in second round game against SMU. Also set the tournament rebound record with 54 total boards in four games.
* Set an OU record by becoming the first player to record a double-double in the first three games of her career.
* Set an OU record by becoming the first player to score 10 or more points in the first six games of their career.
* Set an OU record by recording double figure rebounds in the first three games of her career.

Road Trippin
The Oklahoma women's basketball team has traveled 7,666 miles over the last two weeks. The Sooners first road trip was to Albuquerque (1,124 miles, round trip). Then OU made the 3,248 mile round trip journey to Connecticut. Finally, the Sooners hit San Francisco for the Thanksgiving holiday and traveled a total of 3,294 miles.

Charity Worker
Junior Chelsi Welch is a perfect 16-16 from the charity stripe this season and has made 19 consecutive free throws dating back to the Kansas State game on Feb. 13, 2005. For her career, Welch is an .834 (141-169) shooter. Her career percentage would rank No. 2 in the OU record books, but she is 31 attempts short of the 200 minimum.

Welch isn't the only exceptional free throw shooter on the OU squad. Leah Rush is shooting at an .815 (181-222) percentage, which is currently the second best mark in OU history. Krista Sanchez, Kendra Moore and Erin Higgins also have career percentages of .700 or better.

Fighting The Good Fight
The battle for the starting point guard duties began when Dionnah Jackson hung up her jersey at the end of last season. Britney Brown has started the first six games, but fellow junior Kendra Moore is averaging 5.8 points off the bench. Through the early going the battle is a draw and head coach Sherri Coale is happy about that.

So far Moore is the sixth leading scorer and has just 12 turnovers. Brown has committed 11 turnovers and is second on the team with 2.8 APG.

The duo has combined to average 9.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 5.2 APG. Jackson averaged 14.6 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 5.7 APG last season as a honorable mention All-American. Coale hopes the duo can combine to fill those numbers.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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