No. 19/20 OU Faces Oral Roberts Saturday

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 19/20 Oklahoma women's basketball team (6-1) will square off with regional foe Oral Roberts (3-1) in the annual Bertha Teague Classic on Saturday at 1 p.m. This year's Classic is being hosted by Oklahoma State and will be played on the Stillwater campus at Gallagher Iba Arena. The Sooners' game precedes a contest between Oklahoma State and Tulsa.

Courtney Paris and Erin Higgins are both coming off strong performances against TCU. Paris is at or near the top of the Big 12 statistics in five categories and those facets of her game shined against TCU. She turned in her conference-best fifth double-double with 22 points on 7-7 shooting while also grabbing 17 rebounds and blocking five shots. Paris leads the conference in rebounds and blocks, while ranking second in scoring and third in field goal percentage.

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Higgins scored 11 first half points and 16 on the game. The junior from Oklahoma City also knocked down four 3-pointers, marking the third time in the last five game she has hit four or more from long range. The Sooner guard has hit 15 three-pointers in the last five games.

Saturday's contest will mark the 35th meeting between ORU and OU, with the Sooners holding an all-time advantage of 20-14. After losing 14 of the first 17 games in the series, OU has won 17 straight against the Golden Eagles. The Sooners have won both meetings in Stillwater.

OU will return home on Monday for a top-25 contest against No. 23 UCLA at 7 p.m. Live stats and a webcast will be available through SoonerSports.com and the O-Zone.

Setting The Scene
Date: Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005
Location: Stillwater, Okla.
Tipoff: 1 p.m. CST
Venue: Gallagher Iba Arena (13,611)
TV: None
Webcast: None
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Radio Talent: Brian Brinkley (Play-by-Play) & Tara Degiusti
Tickets: (800) (405) 744-7975

Player To Watch
Now a starter, freshman Ashley Paris is coming on strong for the Oklahoma women's basketball team. Paris is averaging seven points and 9.3 rebounds since entering the starting lineup three games ago. On Wednesday night she had a season-best 12 boards against TCU, including eight in the first half. Her board work has Paris ranked No. 11 in the Big 12 (7.7) and No. 9 on the offensive glass (3.0). The post player is also shooting .564 (22-39) from the field.

TCU Leftovers
Courtney Paris had 22 points and 17 rebounds to lead No. 20 Oklahoma to its third straight win, 77-63, over TCU on Wednesday night.

Paris, a freshman from Piedmont, Calif., recorded her fifth double-double of the season and shot 7-for-7 from the field and 8-for-11 from the line.

Adrianne Ross led TCU (2-3) with 18 points. Ashley Davis added 15, and Vanessa Clementino 10.

Ahead by eight at the break, Oklahoma (6-1) opened the second half with a 16-0 run, fueled by 3-pointers from Erin Higgins and Britney Brown.

Notes
*Courtney Paris, who is third in the Big 12 in shooting percentage, was 7-7 from the field and 8-11 of the free throw line. Her 22 points and 17 rebounds led to her Big 12 best fifth double-double of the season.

*Erin Higgins scored 16 points and hit four three pointers for the third time this season. She has made four or more 3-pointers in a single game on 18 occasions.

*Ashley Paris grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds and combined with her sister to outrebound TCU, 29-28.

*Courtney Paris tied a season high with five blocks, marking the third time this season that she has swatted that number.

*Chelsi Welch had six points and was 2-2 at the free throw line. She is 18-18 at the line this season, which leads the Big 12.

An Immediate Impact
Coming into the season much was made of the potential impact of twin freshmen post players Ashley and Courtney Paris. Just seven 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 13 rebounds on the young season and has recorded five double-doubles. She reached 100 points in OU record time, needing just five games to surpass the century mark.

Ashley is averaging 7.3 points and 7.7 rebounds and has earned all-tournament honors in both the Preseason WNIT and Odwalla Classic.

Stingy Sooners
OU is holding opponents to a .369 shooting percentage this season, which is 99 points lower than OU's mark of .468. The Sooners have held five of their seven opponents under .400 from the field with a season best mark of .194 against SMU.

In the Big 12 ranks, OU is No. 4 in scoring defense (61.0) and No. 4 in field goal percentage defense (.369).

Additionally, OU owns a +67 (215-148) rebound advantage on the defensive boards.

Sign of the Times - ONE
One is the differential in two comparisons. The Paris twins held a one rebound advantage (29-28) over TCU, a top-25 team one season ago, in the contest on Wednesday. One is also the differential in defensive (22) and offensive rebounds (21) for Courntey Paris over the last four games. Courtney, who leads the Big 12 in rebounding, has 43 boards during that span.

Oral Roberts Tidbits
Oral Roberts is off to a 3-1 start with wins over Jackson State, Southwest Oklahoma State and Lamar. The Golden Eagles lone loss came in New Mexico, 69-52, in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT. Oklahoma also went to New Mexicon during the Preseason WNIT, but the Sooners came out with a 74-63 victory.

The Golden Eagles are led by head coach Jerry Finkbeiner, who is in his 10th year at the Tulsa-based college. Finkbeiner has a 139-122 record at ORU and has never beaten Oklahoma.

Offensively, junior forward Elisha Turek is ORU's most dangerous threat. Turek is averaging a team high 19 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

Second on the team in scoring is Sarah Davidson at 16 PPG. The junior guard is also second on the team in assists (2.5).

ORU is a young squad with just one senior, Tiffany Johnson, who is averaging 10 minutes and 1.5 points per game.

Last season ORU won the Mid-Con Tournament title while posting a 22-9 record and reaching the program's third NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles suffered a 17-point loss to Texas in the opening round of the big dance.

Turek, who is 11th on the ORU all-time scoring list, was a Mid-Con First Team selection last season, while also garnering tournament MVP honors.

Hack-A-Courtney
Horned Frog head coach Jeff Mittie admitted that TCU intended to make Courtney Paris earn her points from the free throw line on Wednesday night.

Paris answered with a 6-of-9 first-half effort and a final line of 8-11. In the last three games Paris is 16-22 (.727) from the charity stripe. That stretch follows a 10-22 (.454) mark in the first four games of the season.

On the season Paris is shooting .591 (26-44) from the free throw line.

Who Is Bertha?
Few coaches in any sport can match Bertha Teague's coaching success or dedication to her sport-women's basketball. Like many notable coaches who excelled in their chosen occupation without active participation, Bertha Teague never played the game she so successfully mastered. In 42 years coaching at Byng High School in Ada, OK, from 1927 to 1969, Teague compiled an astonishing 1,152-115 record, a .910 winning percentage. Teague held the record for most wins at the girl's high school level until 1991. This unprecedented success enabled Teague to become one of the first three women enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Under Teague's direction, the Lady Pirates competed in 22 regional, 38 conference and 40 district tournaments, and won eight Oklahoma state titles. At one point during Byng's domination, the team won a stunning 98 straight games. An authority on girl's basketball, Teague authored Basketball for Girls in 1962, a book that outlined her philosophy and coaching methods.

Half of A Story
Junior Erin Higgins tallied 45 points in the first six games of the year but failed to put in a basket or free throw in the second half of any of those games. The junior sharp shooter is averaging a team-best 30.9 minutes per game and is fourth on the team at 8.7 points per game.

Sixty-two of her 67 of her points this season have come in the first 20 minutes when she is shooting 47 percent (20-43) from the field and 54 percent (15-28) from 3-point range. She also leads the Big 12 with 16 three-point makes.

Higgins broke her second half drought with five points on 1-3 shooting and two free throws against TCU.

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 seven 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 seven games of their career.
* Set an OU record by recording double figure rebounds in the first three games of her career.

Board Work
Oklahoma is second in the Big 12 in rebounding margin at +14.3. OU is averaging 45.3 rebounds per game as compared to the opponents 31.0. In seven games, OU has already topped 50 rebounds on two occasions, an accomplishment achieved only once last season. OU had a season-high 66 boards against SMU and 50 against TCU.

Charity Worker
Junior Chelsi Welch is a perfect 18-18 from the charity stripe this season and has made 21 consecutive free throws dating back to the Kansas State game on Feb. 13, 2005. For her career, Welch is an .836 (143-171) shooter. Her career percentage would rank No. 2 in the OU record books, but she is 29 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 .813 (183-225) 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.

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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 19/20 OU Faces Oral Roberts Saturday

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