Sooners Head for the Mountains

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma (13-9, 5-6 Big 12) looks to continue its solid team play and defensive intensity as the Sooners face Colorado (8-14, 1-10 big 12) on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Tip time is schedule for 8 p.m. (CST) inside the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo. The Buffs will be the fourth of five Big 12 North teams OU has faced in February.

Wednesday's game will be televised by Fox Sports Rocky Mountain but will not be shown in the Oklahoma region. OU fans can tune to KOKC-AM (1520) to listen to Brian Brinkley (play-by-play) and Tara DeGiusti (color analyst) call the action.

Oklahoma is coming off an impressive 77-61 win over No. 16 Kansas State on ESPN2 Sunday. The Sooners put together 40 hard fought minutes for a win. Senior Dionnah Jackson paced the team with 18 points. The biggest highlight of the game was the performance of sophomore Chelsi Welch and junior Laura Andrews.

Game Notes in PDF Format | Live Statistics (from Colorado)

Welch, who's been coming of the bench for the past four games, scored all of her 14 points in the first half. Andrews produced her 15 points in the second half. The duo was a perfect 6-for-6 from the three-point line, after going 1 of 22 from the arc over the past four games. Sophomore Leah Rush rounded out the double digit scoring column for OU with 12 points.

Jackson, once again, led the team in rebounding with eight boards, followed by Rush's seven and Welch's four. KSU out rebounded the Sooners by a slim 31-30.

As a team, OU shot 56.3 percent from the three-point line (9-16) and 48.4 percent from the field (27-56). The Sooners were extremely solid at the free throw line in their previous two games but OU was only able to connect on 14 of 21 foul shots, for 66.7 percent, against the Wildcats. K-State was led by senior Kendra Wecker's game-high 29 points and nine rebounds.

Oklahoma (13-9, 5-6 Big 12)
At
Colorado (8-14, 1-10 Big 12)

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005
Location: Boulder, Colo.
Arena: Coors Events Center (11,064)
Tip: 8 p.m. (CST)
TV: FSN-Rocky Mountain (will not be shown in the Oklahoma region)
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Series: Colorado leads the all-time series 33-16, but OU has won seven of the last nine games.
Up Next: OU hosts Missouri on Sat., Feb. 19, at 4 p.m. on FSN.

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA
24 F Leah Rush (6-1, So., Amarillo, Texas, 14.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
34 G Erin Higgins (5-9, So., Oklahoma City, Okla., 8.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg)
35 G Dionnah Jackson (5-9, Sr., St. Louis, Mo., 15.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg)
12 G Lauren Shoush (5-11, Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla., 5.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
11 G Laura Andrews (6-0, Jr., Washington, Okla., 5.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg)

COLORADO
12 F Anna Nedovic (6-4, So., Ballerup, Denmark, 9.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
21 F Jasmina Ilic (6-0, So., Becej, Serbia, 9.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
44 C Kara Richards (5-11, Sr., Marysville, Kan., 9.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg)
05 G Veronica Johns-Richardson (5-9, Sr., Fullerton, Calif., 9.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
22 G Whitney Law (5-11, Jr., Littleton, Colo., 7.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg)

OKLAHOMA (13-9, 5-6 BIG 12)
Oklahoma snapped its two-game losing skid with a victory Sunday against No. 16 Kansas State, 77-61, in Norman. The Sooners are now 13-9 overall and own a 5-6 mark in Big 12 action.

OU is sitting in seventh-place in the conference standings, two games behind Nebraska. The Sooners have five games remaining, two at home and three on the road. Of OU's final five games two will come against teams ranked among the top 20 in the nation (Texas Tech and at Texas).

Five of OU's six Big 12 losses have been to ranked teams and three of the Sooners' other four losses have come to teams who were ranked in the top 25 at some point during the season, including setbacks to Iowa and TCU. Oklahoma's only losses to unranked foes have been to Tulsa (Dec. 4) and Nebraska (Feb. 6).

The Sooners have been led this season by senior guard Dionnah Jackson, who ranks first on the team in scoring with 15.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Jackson is a finalist for the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year and the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Awards.

Sophomore Leah Rush is a close second to Jackson in scoring with 14.5 points per game, as well as rebounding with 6.5 rpg. Rush leads the Big 12 in free throw percentage (in conference games), hitting a solid 89.2 percent. She's hit 14 straight and 21 of her last 22 foul shots.

Erin Higgins, a 5-9 sophomore guard, has joined Rush and Jackson in the starting lineup for all 22 games this season, adding 8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Higgins has been OU's top shooter from long range, hitting 48 of 130 three-pointers (36.9 percent).

As a team, Oklahoma has averaged 69.6 points per game, while surrendering 60.9 ppg. The Sooners are shooting 41.9 percent from the field, and out rebounding their opponents by a slim +4.1 boards per game.

COLORADO (8-14, 1-10 BIG 12)
Colorado enters Wednesday's contest looking to snap a seven-game losing steak. The Buffs hadn't lost seven-straight games since the 1984-85 season when CU closed out the year losing its last eight. CU is currently 12th in the Big 12 standing with a 1-10 mark and an overall performance of 8-14. CU will also be looking for its first Big 12 home. The Buffs last victory was against Missouri, 56-51, on Jan. 18, in Columbia.

Colorado is a well rounded team as five players, four underclassmen, that's averaging nine-plus points per game. Sophomore Jasminia Ilic tops the club with 9.8 ppg, followed by freshman Jackie McFarland's and senior Veronica Johns-Richardson's 9.6 ppg each. Sophomore Anna Nedovic and freshman Kara Richards contributes 9.3 and 9.1 ppg, respectively, to CU's offensive attack.

Nedovic tops the team in rebounding with 6.5 rebounds per game, while McFarland adds 6.3 rpg.

As a team, Colorado is shooting 40.7 percent from the field and averaging 63.9 points per game. However, CU averages 20 turnovers per game and had a season-high 34 at Texas A&M. The Buffs are being outrebounded but only by a slim -0.4, 38.1 to 38.5.

SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday will be the 50th meeting between Oklahoma and Colorado. The history between the two programs dates back to 1979 with Colorado dominating the series from 1987 to 1996, winning 21 of 23 games.

Overall, CU holds a 33-16 all-time series advantage. The Buffs are also 16-3 when hosting the Sooners in Boulder. The last time OU won at the Coors Events Center was a 20-point Big 12 season opener victory in 2001 (89-69).

OU has won seven of the last nine games between the two teams including a 63-56 victory in the quarter-finals of 2004 Big 12 Tournament. The Sooners also picked up a 20-point win, 78-58, in Norman last year.

Sooner coach Sherri Coale is 8-5 against Colorado.

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 169-104 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.

Ceal Barry (Kentucky, 1977) is in her 22nd season as head coach for Colorado. Barry has produced 13 20-win seasons at Colorado. She's led the Buffs to 12 NCAA Tournaments, including six Sweet 16 appearances. Barry served as the head coach for the 2004 U.S. Junior World Championship Qualifying team that won gold. She was also an assistant coach for the gold medal winning USA Olympic team in 1996.

BIG 12 NORTH FOES
Colorado will be the second straight Big 12 North team for the Sooners. OU has faced four North foes in its last five games. The Sooners are an even 2-2 when playing that side of the league.

IN SEARCH OF 500TH PROGRAM WIN
Oklahoma is SEVEN wins shy of reaching its 500 career victory. The 31-year old women's basketball program has 493 wins.

SOONERS SHUFFLE
Head coach Sherri Coale has used seven different lineup this season. Coale has played all available 13 players in several games and 10 players are averaging better than 10 minutes per game.

Only Dionnah Jackson, Leah Rush and Erin Higgins have started all 22 games and average better than 20 minutes per game.

JACKSON AMONG BIG 12 ALL-TIME BEST
Senior Dionnah Jackson now ranks fifth on the Big 12 Conference all-time assists list. Jackson dished out nine assists against Kansas State Sunday to surpass Nebraska's Nicole Kubik (1997-00). Kubik had 563.

Jackson has dished out 564 assists and is 200 shy of the Big 12's and OU's all-time leader Stacey Dales-Schuman.

RPI RANKINGS
In this week's WBCA/Summerville RPI Rankings, Oklahoma moved up to No. 35 in the RPI Rankings and the Sooners' strength of schedule jumped to seventh best in the country.

ASSISTING OTHERS
Oklahoma is a tight second to Texas Tech for most assists per game in Big 12 play. OU dishes out 16.4 to Tech's 16.9 apg. The Sooners are ranked 12th in the nation in this category. Colorado ranks eighth in the league in assists per game with 12.55.

Overall, OU dishes out 17.52 assists per game. The Sooners have dished out more assists than turnovers in 17 of 22 outings. OU has also had 10 or more assists in all but one game this season.

HIGGINS CONNECTIONS
For the first eight games of the season, sophomore Erin Higgins was only able to connect on 11 of 49 three-pointers, 22.4 percent. But, since having a breakout game on FSN against Louisiana Tech (D18), she's hit 46.0 percent of her three-pointers, 37-for-81.

Against LaTech Higgins went 5-for-7 beyond the arc (71.4%) and the following game at Utah she canned 5-of-8 threes (62.5%). She's had six games with four or more threes made and she has hit at least one three-pointer in all but four games this season. In Big 12 play, she's been responsible for 45.0 percent of OU's threes made (22-53).

With 48 made 3s, Higgins now ranks 11th on OU's single season chart. She broke into the list after hitting a pair against Baylor. Higgins also hit 59 treys a year ago to rank fifth best on the list.

WADSWORTH STEPS IN
Junior Antoinette Wadsworth has come off the bench in the Sooners last two games to provide a valuable back-up minutes for sophomore Leah Rush. Rush has battled foul trouble against OU last two opponents.

Wadsworth averaged 7.5 points and 2.5 rebounds and hit six of her 10 attempted field goals against nationally-ranked Baylor and Kansas State. She scored 10 points on 4-of 6-shooting, including consecutive baskets that tied the game at 56 all against Baylor. She also had three rebounds in 22 minutes of play.

Against Kansas State, she also scored on back-to-back possessions and finished with five points and two rebounds in nine minutes.

The 5-11 forward has played in 18 games, starting one, and has scored in double digits twice. Wadsworth is the most athletic player on the team who averages 2.8 rebounds per game.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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