Women's Hoops Exhibition Thursday

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma women's basketball team has found its way into several preseason top-25 polls just seven months after finishing out of the final 2004-05 rankings and losing honorable mention All-American Dionnah Jackson.

The high praise can be credited to the return of three starters, six other veterans with starting experience and the addition of a nationally-touted recruiting class.

The Sooners' lineup will be drastically changed by the addition of 6-4 freshman center Courtney Paris. The true power center's arrival allows junior Leah Rush to move back to the forward position where she could be paired early and often with 6-3 freshman forward Ashley Paris. Along with Rush, junior Erin Higgins is a sure fire bet for the starting lineup where she should extend her streak of 49 consecutive starts.

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The OU coaching staff believes Chelsi Welch will return to her freshman year form of 12.1 points per game. A more slashing and agile Welch would jump start an OU offense that will begin in the post for the first time in Coale's tenure. The point guard battle brewed through the summer and fall and is still too close to call.

The reliable Britney Brown was a named a preseason captain in August and hopes to build on her impressive finish to 2004-05. Junior Kendra Moore, who showed tremendous improvement in leadership during the offseason, is a quicker point guard with a flare for the dramatic.

Seniors Laura Andrews and Beky Preston will carry crucial leadership roles on and off the court. Both have averaged 15-plus minutes a game during their careers and should see similar, if not increased, numbers this season. Fellow senior Antoinette Wadsworth tore the ACL in her right knee during off-season conditioning and will be out for the remainder of the season. Wadsworth will not apply for a medical redshirt.

Setting The Scene
Opponent: Oklahoma Christian
Date: Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005
Location: Norman, Okla.
Tipoff: 7 p.m.
Venue: Lloyd Noble Center (12,000)
TV: None
Webcast: O-Zone on SoonerSports.com
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM), Yahoo! Radio
Radio Talent: Brian Brinkley (Play-by-Play) & Tara Deguisti
Ticket: $5 for reserved and general admission
Series: Only played exibition contests
Promotions: Free schedule cards and posters

Leah Rush

Player to Watch
Junior forward Leah Rush begins the 2005-06 campaign on the heels of the best single game performance of her career. In the Sooners 2005 NCAA Tournament loss to Arizona Rush scored 28 points on 11-for-16 shooting while playing primarily at the center position. Rush returns to the forward position this season after a summer of workouts with the USA World University Games Team.

Preseason Success
* Oklahoma is 12-0 in exhibition games since 2000.
* Thursday's contest will mark the fifth consecutive year OU and Oklahoma Christian have met in a preseason exhibition.
* Over the last four meetings, OU has defeated OC by an average of 32 points while scoring 91 points per game to the Eagles' 59 points.
* OU is only playing one exhibition game this season, as opposed to the usual two, because of the possibility of playing four games in the Preseason WNIT. The WNIT tourney is preseason' only in name.All of the contests are sanctioned by the NCAA.

Exhibition Notes
* OU head coach Sherri Coale, assistant coach Jan Ross and director of operations Dr. Bill Pink are all graduates of Oklahoma Christian. Coale and Ross played basketball at OC. Ross was also an assistant coach there for five seasons.
* Both Coale and Ross played under OC head Coach Samantha Findley and remain close friends with the Lady Eagles' Mentor.
* Last season Antoinette Wadsworth let OU with 16 points and nine rebounds against Oklahoma Christian. Chelsi Welch's 15 points and Beky Preston's 11 points and eight rebounds were also factors in the win.
* Two years ago against OC, freshmen Erin Higgins and Leah Rush tallied 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Experimental Rules
The NCAA Rules Committee is enforcing two experimental rules during all Division I women's basketball exhibition games and selected tournaments, including the Preseason WNIT.

The 3-point line has been moved back nine inches (20 feet, 6 inches from rim) and is marked by a three-inch line. Players can shoot a legal 3-pointer from beyond or on top of that line, but the shot will be worth two points if any portion of the foot crosses the inside of the line.

The second experimental rule is the 10-second backcourt rule that is utilized in men's college game. Teams have 10 seconds to get the ball across half court after a made basket or change in possession.

Scouting Oklahoma Christian
Oklahoma Christian is ranked No. 3 in the preseason NAIA poll after finishing the 2004-05 campaign with a 26-9 record and No. 12 ranking. The Lady Eagles made the Sweet 16 under head coach Stephanie Findley last season.

Findley has plenty of options at her disposal. The Lady Eagles return five starters, all of which averaged 10 plus points per game. Three-year starters Lauren Decker (5-8, guard) and Tasha Turney (5-11, forward) anchor the OC attack. Decker was a NAIA Second Team All-American, who averaged a team high 13.7 points per game last season. Turney was a third team All-American who averaged 13 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

10 players are available on the Lady Eagle bench with five of those being newcomers, including two juco transfers. The leading returning letterwinner off the bench is LaToshia Ware who averaged 2.3 PPG and 1.1 RPG.

Wadsworth Calls It A Career
Senior-to-be Antoinette Wadsworth suffered an ACL tear in her right knee during off-season conditioning and will not play this season. The Grand Prairie, Texas native is expected to graduate in May, 2006 and will not seek a medical redshirt, effectively ending her collegiate career. Wadsworth suffered a similar injury during the 2001-02 preseason and was sidelined for duration of that season.

Wadsworth's finishes her Sooner career with averages of 7.9 minutes per game, 2.1 PPG and 2.5 RPG.

Coale & Coaches vs. Cancer
Sherri Coale will be featured in the intros to the 2005 Coaches vs. Cancer men's and women's games on Dec. 5 and 6 at 6 p.m. , Central. Coale, who penned an online journal for SoonerSports.com and ESPN.com about the cancer battle of former player Jamie Talbert, spoke with producers about her relationship and support for the Sooner alum. Talbert recently completed chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and is in the early stages of recovery.

Big 12 Coaches Pick OU Fourth
The Big 12 Conference announced the results of its annual coaches preseason poll on Oct. 13 and the Oklahoma women's basketball team was picked to finish in fourth place. The Sooners received 91 votes, which landed them behind defending national champion Baylor (113 votes), Texas (110) and Texas Tech (108).

It marks the second time in the last three seasons that OU has been picked fourth in the preseason poll. The Sherri Coale led squad was slated fifth last season.

In its ninth year of existence, the conference's preseason poll has only accurately predicted the eventual winner on two occasions, 1997-98 (Kansas) and 2001-02 (Oklahoma).

“I wonder sometimes if everyone struggles in ordering our 12 teams the way I do,” said Coale. “The league is so strongfrom top to bottomit's difficult to differentiate, particularly with so many young, talented players making their debut.

“My immediate reaction is: we're picked fourth overall but we're also picked fourth in our division (Big 12 South). To be picked fourth in this company is actually quite a compliment, however, fourth is certainly not the goal.”

Paris & Rush Earn Big 12 Honors

Courtney Paris

Oklahoma freshman center Courtney Paris was named Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year while junior forward Leah Rush was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.

Sooners have claimed the regular season freshman of the year award on two occasions. LaNeishea Caufield won after the 1998-99 season, while current Sooner Chelsi Welch nabbed a share of the award after the 2002-03 campaign.

It is the first preseason Big 12 honor of Rush's career. Last season she averaged 15.5 points per game, fourth best among returning Big 12 players, while claiming second team All-Big 12 honors. The All-America candidate also ranked 15th in rebounds (6.3 ppg) and fourth in free throw percentage (.847).

Six OU players have earned First Team All-Big 12 honors since the inception of the league during the 1996-97 season. Rush has also been picked as a preseason Third Team All American by the Women's Basketball News Service and as an All-Big 12er by the Kansas City Star and Conference Call Magazine.

Sooners In Red, White and Blue
Four members of the Oklahoma women's basketball program spent a portion of their offseason with USA Basketball. OU head coach Sherri Coale was named to the USA Competition Committee and incoming freshman Courtney Paris was an integral member of the gold medal winning FIBA U19 World Championships Team. Fellow Sooner Leah Rush reached the final cut for the World University Games team, while incoming freshman Ashley Paris was also a finalist for the FIBA U19 squad.

Courtney finished the FIBA tourney with averages of 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. She led the USA squad in rebounding, was third in scoring and finished third among all FIBA competitors with a .662 shooting percentage. In individual games, she led the team in rebounding three times and scoring once.

Courtney arrived in Norman with a pair of gold medals from a busy summer of basketball. She also helped the Red, White and Blue to top honors in the 2005 International Sports Invitational, which was held June 8-11 in San Diego, Calif. The dominant center averaged 12.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game during five games in San Diego.

Higgins Climbing Charts
Junior guard Erin Higgins hit a team-best 67 treys in 2004-05, the fifth best single season total in OU history.

She broke into OU's all-time top 10 when she hit her first three-pointer against Southeast Missouri State in the season opener. When Higgins made five treys against Texas A&M in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, she moved to fifth on the school's all-time three-point field goal chart with 134. Higgins needs to make just 41 threes to take the top spot from Etta Maytubby (1993-96).

Brown Hopes To Sustain Momentum
Junior Britney Brown wrapped up her sophomore campaign with an impressive performance against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament. The 5-8 guard dished out a career-high seven assists to zero turnovers in 35 minutes of play, also a personal best. She also hit all four attempted foul shots and scored nine points for the Sooners.

Her NCAA performance came after having a solid Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. In her two Big 12 Tournament games, she averaged 11.0 points and dished out 5.0 assists per game, both ranked second best on the team. The Oklahoma native re-entered the starting lineup at Oklahoma State on March 3, the game before post-season play.

Over the final four games of the season, Brown accounted for 8.3 ppg, 5.3 apg and 3.0 rpg.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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