OU Hosts Missouri Saturday at 4 p.m.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma (14-9, 6-6 Big 12) looks to continue its solid team play and defensive intensity as the Sooners host Missouri (9-14, 3-9 Big 12) Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Lloyd Noble Center.

The game will be televised nationally by the Fox Sports Network with Kevin Eschenfelder (play-by-play) and Debbie Antonelli (color analyst) calling the game. It will be aired locally on Cox Cable channel 37. Sooner fans can also tune to KOKC-AM (1520) to listen to Mark Rodgers with play-by-play duties and color analyst Tara DeGiusti.

Fans are encouraged to come and watch OU's last two home games of the 2004-05 season over the next five days. Single game tickets are available for $8 (adult) and $5 (youth). Reserved seating can also be purchased for $10. Saturday is Military Appreciation Day.

Live Statistics | Game Notes in PDF Format | OU Ticket Office

Missouri will the last regular season Big 12 North team for OU. The Sooners have faced five North opponents in the last six games, going 3-2.

Missouri (9-14, 3-9 Big 12) at Oklahoma (14-9, 6-6 Big 12)

Date: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005
Location: Norman, Okla.
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center (12,000)
Tip: 4 p.m.
TV: FSN (Cox Cable Ch 37 in Oklahoma)
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Series: Missouri leads the all-time series 27-19, but OU has won four of the last five games.
Rankings: Neither team is ranked
Tickets: Single game tickets are $8 (adult) and $3 (youth) and can be purchased at the door.
Promotions: Military Appreciation Day.
Up Next: OU plays its last regular season home game on Wednesday, Feb. 23 against Texas Tech at 7 p.m. on SSN.

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA
24 F Leah Rush (6-1, So., Amarillo, Texas, 14.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
35 G Dionnah Jackson (5-9, Sr., St. Louis, Mo., 15.0 ppg, 8.4 rpg)
34 G Erin Higgins (5-9, So., Oklahoma City, Okla., 8.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
11 G Laura Andrews (6-0, Jr., Washington, Okla., 5.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
12 G Lauren Shoush (5-11, Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla., 5.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg)

MISSOURI
43 F Carlynn Savant (6-1, So., Euless, Texas, 8.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg)
54 F EeTisha Riddle (6-3, So., O'Fallon, Ill., 6.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
10 G LaToya Bond (5-7, Jr., Urbana, Ill., 11.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg)
14 G C'stelle N'Garsanet (6-3, Jr., Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire, 11.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg)
34 G Tiffany Brooks (5-11, So., Leavenworth, Kan., 12.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg)

OKLAHOMA (14-9, 6-6 BIG 12)
With four games remaining in regular season, Oklahoma looks to add to its two-game winning streak. The Sooners have produced a pair of 77-61 victories over No. 16 Kansas State and at Colorado, after losing on a last second shot, 73-72, to No. 7 Baylor. For the last three games, OU has averaged 75.3 points and 32.0 rebounds per game. The Sooners are playing better transition basketball and more aggressive defense as of late. Oklahoma has regained its shooting touch as the Sooners are hitting 47.4 percent from the field and 42.0 percent from the three-point line.

OU slide a bit at the free throw line against Colorado, hitting 7 of 13 shots, but prior to that performance OU had been extremely solid at the stripe. The Sooners sport a 70.7 percent free throw accuracy (41 of 58) over the last three games. Also, during this time frame, senior Dionnah Jackson has led three Sooners in double figures with 20.3 points per game. Sophomore Leah Rush has contributed 14.3 and junior Laura Andrews has added 11.3 ppg. Jackson has also led the team in rebounding (6.3) and assists (5.3) per game.

OU enters Saturday's game sitting in seventh-place in the conference standings (6-6), two games behind Nebraska and Kansas State. The Sooners have four games remaining, two at home and two on the road. Of OU's final four 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, 8.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.0 block 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 14.7 points per game, as well as rebounding with 6.4 rpg. After a 5-for-8 performance from the free throw line at Colorado, Rush dropped to fifth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (in conference games), hitting a solid 84.1 percent.

Erin Higgins, a 5-9 sophomore guard, has joined Rush and Jackson in the starting lineup for all 23 games this season, adding 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Higgins has been OU's top shooter from long range, hitting 51 of 137 three-pointers (37.2 percent); including 8 of 17 over the past three games (47.1 percent).

As a team, Oklahoma has averaged 70.0 points per game, while surrendering 60.9 ppg. The Sooners are shooting 42.4 percent from the field, and out rebounding their opponents by a slim +3.8 boards per game.

MISSOURI (9-14, 3-9 BIG 12)
Missouri enters the weekend winners of two of its last three games. The Tigers snapped an eight game losing streak by defeating Colorado, 58-55, on a last second three-pointer in Boulder. MU followed that victory with a 63-46 win over Texas A&M in Columbia. However, Baylor ended the Tigers winning streak Wednesday with a 74-57 victory in Waco.

In that game, 5-11 sophomore guard Tiffany Brooks had a team-high 19 points, followed by LaToya Bond's 10. Brooks, a transfer from Kansas State, leads the Tigers in scoring with 12.3 ppg. Bonds is tied with 6-3 center Christelle N'Garsanet for second with 11.9 ppg.

MU shot 43.5 percent from the field and hit 15 of 19 free throws (78.9%). However, the Tigers allowed Baylor's post players to score 51 of the team's 74 points (69 percent) and grab 34 rebounds to MU's 27. Baylor forced 17 Missouri turnovers while only giving up the ball nine times. Missouri brings a wealth of size to the court in a pair of 6-3 centers in N'Garsanet and Megan Roney (3.8 ppg and 3.2 rpg) plus 6-2 forward EeTisha Riddle (6.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg).

As a team, Missouri is averaging just 59.5 ppg and allowing 63.3 ppg. MU has struggled to find its shot shooting 39.6 percent from the field, including 32.1 percent from three-point range, and 66.3 percent from the free throw line. Defensively, the Tigers rank second in the Big 12 in blocked shots per game, averaging 5.04.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will be 48th meeting between the two programs. Missouri holds an all-time 28-19 advantage, but OU has won four of the last five games. Sooner coach Sherri Coale is 4-4 against Missouri.

Last year, Missouri defeated the Sooners in Columbia for the first time since 1998. The Tigers picked up a 77-65 victory over Oklahoma with the assistance of a flawless 21-for-21 performance at the free throw line. A complete box score of last year's game is on page 4.

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 170-104 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.

Cindy Stein (Illinois, 1984) is in her seventh season as head coach for Missouri. Stein is 110-93 at Missouri and 175-118 as a head coach. She has taken two MU teams to the NCAA Tournament and has made five consecutive postseason appearances. She served as an assistant coach for USA Basketball at the World University Games in 2004.

IN SEARCH OF 500TH PROGRAM WIN
Oklahoma is SIX wins shy of reaching its 500 career victory. The 31-year old women's basketball program has 494 wins.

HOME SWEET HOME
Oklahoma is 8-3 inside the Lloyd Noble Center this season. OU has produced a home court record of 76-17, an 81.7 winning percentage, over the last seven years. The Sooners have had four perfect non-conference home records and have only lost three non-conference games during the past seven years (Connecticut 2000 (84-68), SMU 2003 (71-68) and Tennessee 2004 (71-55)).

OU STILL AMONG NATION'S ELITE IN HOME ATTENDANCE
OU currently ranks No. 16 on the unofficial 2004-05 women's basketball home attendance rankings compiled by the University of Wisconsin. The Sooners currently draw 5,660 fans to home games.

SHARP SHOOTER IS BACK
Junior Laura Andrews had been struggling from three-point range until the last couple of games (3). The 6-0 guard has connected on 6-of-10 attempted three-pointers (60%), shot 59.1 percent from the field (13-of-22) and averaged 11.3 points per game. Prior to this, Andrews was averaging 4.6 ppg, shooting 25.4 percent from the arc and 34.0 percent from the field.

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 570 assists and is 194 shy of the Big 12's and OU's all-time leader Stacey Dales-Schuman.

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 23 games and average better than 20 minutes per game.

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.

WADSWORTH STEPS IN
Junior Antoinette Wadsworth has come off the bench in the Sooners last three games to provide valuable back-up minutes for sophomore Leah Rush, who has battled foul.

Wadsworth averaged 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds and hit nine of her 13 attempted field goals (69.2 percent) against nationally-ranked Baylor and Kansas State plus Colorado.

She had 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 scored on back-to-back possessions and finished with five points and two rebounds in nine minutes. Wadsworth was a perfect 3-for-3 at Colorado while grabbing seven rebounds in 16 minutes.

The 5-11 forward has played in 19 games, starting one, and has scored in double digits twice. Wadsworth is the most athletic player on the team who averages 3.1 rebounds per game.

JACKSON NAMED FINALIST FOR LIEBERMAN AWARD
Oklahoma's Dionnah Jackson is one of 10 finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award. Jackson, a native of St. Louis, Mo., has been OU's heartbeat this season. She's produced eight double-doubles, one triple double and scored in double digits in 19 of 23 games, while averaging 15.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game as the team's quarterback.

Jackson has led OU in scoring in five of the last seven games. Over the last three games, she's averaged 20.3 ppg. She's also accounted for a team-best in rebounds (6.3 rpg), assists (5.3 apg) while shooting 55.3 percent from the field.

The 5-9 guard was one short of setting a Big 12 Conference record for most assists in a single game when she distributed 16 at Texas A&M, setting an Reed Arena record. Her career-high nine steals against Iowa in November remains a Big 12 individual game high for the season.

Jackson is just one of two players since the league was formed to produce more than 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals during a career. She currently has 1,397 points, 767 rebounds, 570 assists and 249 steals. She also ranks among OU's all-time greats in nine categories, including points, rebounds and assists. Jackson is among the Big 12's best in assists and steals.

ASSISTING OTHERS
Oklahoma is a tight second to Baylor for most assists per game in Big 12 play. OU dishes out 16.50 to BU's 16.58 apg. The Sooners are ranked 13th in the nation in this category. Missouri ranks 11th in the league in assists per game with 10.83.

Overall, OU dishes out 17.50 assists per game. The Sooners have dished out more assists than turnovers in 18 of 23 outings. OU has also had 10 or more assists in all but one game this season.

SHARING THE ROCK
Oklahoma leads the Big 12 Conference in assists to field goals made ratio. OU has 402 assists to its 590 field goals made for 68.1percent assist to field goals made accuracy. Baylor is second with 65.3 percent, followed by Texas Tech's 64.1 assists to field goals made accuracy.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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