OU Travels to Nebraska For FSN Showdown Sunday

Oklahoma (12-7, 4-4 Big 12)
At
Nebraska (13-7, 5-3 Big 12)

Date: Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005
Location: Lincoln, Neb.
Arena: Devaney Center (13,595)
Tip: 3 p.m.
TV: FSN (Cox Cable Ch 37)
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Series: OU holds a slim 22-21 edge in the all-time series.
Rankings: none
Up Next: OU plays host Baylor on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. in Lloyd Noble Center.

Game Notes in PDF

Oklahoma (12-7, 4-4 Big 12) will face its third Big 12 north team on Super Bowl Sunday as the Sooners travel to Nebraska (13-7, 5-3 Big 12) for a 3 p.m. tip inside the Devaney Center in Lincoln. With half the Big 12 slate complete, Nebraska and OU is seating at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, in the Big 12 race (as of Feb. 3).

OU has eight conference games remaining, all eight of those games will be televised either locally, regionally or nationally. Sunday's game will be televised nationally by FSN with Kevin Eschenfelder (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (color) calling the action.

OU fans can also tune to the Sooner Sports Networks (KOKC-AM (1520)) and www.SoonerSports.com to listen to the voice of OU women's basketball Brian Brinkley and color analyst Tara DeGiusti.

Nebraska has not seen action since defeating Oklahoma State, 73-71, in Stillwater Tuesday, while OU beat Kansas, 65-49, in Lawrence Wednesday. Nebraska is 10-1 inside the Devaney Center this season with its only loss coming against nationally-ranked Texas Tech, 68-58, on Jan. 19. OU is 3-3 (2-2 in Big 12 play) in true road games and 5-5 in all games played away from Lloyd Noble Center.

Nebraska has won two-straight games after losing three in a row to ranked teams. OU snapped a two-game losing skid Wednesday and all of the Sooners four Big 12 losses have been to top 25 programs.

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA
24 F Leah Rush (6-1, So., Amarillo, Texas, 14.5 ppg, 6.6 rpg)
34 G Erin Higgins (5-9, So., Oklahoma City, Okla., 8.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg)
35 G Dionnah Jackson (5-9, Sr., St. Louis, Mo., 14.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg)
00 G Chelsi Welch (5-9, So., Plainview, Texas, 7.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
11 G Laura Andrews (6-0, Jr., Washington, Okla., 4.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg)

NEBRASKA
45 F Chelsea Aubry (6-2, So., Kitchener, Ontario, 9.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
15 F Elena Diaz (6-1, Jr., Medellin, Colombia, 4.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg)
04 F Jelena Spiric (6-0, Jr., Belgrade, Serbia, 6.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
21 G Kiera Hardy (5-6, So., Kansas City, Mo., 19.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
20 G Jina Johansen (5-7, Sr., Dannebrog, Neb., 6.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg)

OKLAHOMA (12-7, 4-4 BIG 12)
Oklahoma's duo of senior All-America candidate Dionnah Jackson and sophomore forward Leah Rush has guided the Sooners to a 12-7 overall record and 4-4 mark in the Big 12. The pair leads the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks and steals.

Jackson, the team's most consistent player, has produced one triple double and eight double double on the season. Rush as scored 20-plus points five times and recorded double digits 14 times.

Oklahoma is holding its Big 12 opponents to just 37.4 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from the arc, second best in the Big 12.

Overall, Oklahoma is averaging 70.1 points and 41.6 rebounds per game. The Sooners are shooting 31.3 percent from the three-point range and 42.4 percent from the field. OU also holds a +5.2 edge on the boards, 41.6-to-36.5.

NEBRASKA (13-7, 5-3 BIG 12)
Nebraska is currently on a two-game winning streak with recent victories over Oklahoma State and Kansas. NU's three Big 12 Conference losses occurred against Top-25 programs (Kansas State, Texas Tech and Iowa State). However, the Cornhuskers upset then No.2/3 Baylor with a triple overtime win, 103-99, in Lincoln on Jan. 12.

Nebraska's non-conference record was 8-4.

Sophomore forward Jessica Gerhart is recovering from having her appendix removed on Feb. 1 and has missed the last two games. Gerhart's availability for Sunday is unknown.

NU is lead by senior guard Jina Johansen. Johansen, like OU's Dionnah Jackson, ranks third on the school's all-time career assists list. The Dannebrog, Neb., native has dished out 495 assists in three-plus seasons. Jackson owns 547 assists for the Sooners. Johansen contributes 8.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 6.0 apg in Big 12 action.

Leading the Cornhuskers offensively is sophomore guard Kiera Hardy who averages 23.5 ppg in the league and 19.8 overall. Junior Jelena Spiric has been awarded two Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors and averages 9.5 ppg and 5.1 rpg, a team best, in league play.

SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday will be the 44th meeting between Oklahoma and Nebraska. The all-time series is the fifth longest for OU among Big 12 teams as it dates back to 1978.

The Sooners currently have a 22-21 edge when facing Nebraska but the Cornhuskers sport a 15-5 record when hosting OU in Lincoln.

OU has been perfect against Nebraska since the 2000 season, 6-0 (three wins in Norman, two in Lincoln and one in Dallas). In OU's six-game winning streak the Sooners' margin of victory has been 21.7 ppg. The closest NU came to beating the Sooners was a 14 points loss, 57-43, in Lincoln in 2003.

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 168-102 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.

Nebraska is coach by Connie Yori (Creighton, 1986). Yori is in her third season with the Cornhuskers, earning a school record of 39-39, a Division I mark of 209-154 and an overall coaching record of 234-179. Prior to Nebraska, Yori was the head coach at Creighton for 10 years.

A YEAR AGO VS. NEBRASKA
Last year's game wasn't picture perfect basketball as 39 turnovers were forced and 29 fouls called. Regardless, Oklahoma was able to pick up a 70-51 victory over Nebraska to start Big 12 play.

The Sooners didn't shoot the ball extremely very in the opening 20 minutes (37.5%) but came out hot in the second half, hitting 55.2 percent (16-29) from the field. The Sooners shot 46 percent for the game.

Maria Villarroel led all scores with 19 points, followed by three other Sooners in double figures. Villarroel also grabbed five rebounds and had two assists. Dionnah Jackson added 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

OU took advantage of Nebraska's sloppy play as the Sooners scored 26 points off the Cornhuskers turnovers.

Kea Cannon paced the Cornhuskers with 15 points, and Katie Morse added 13. Nebraska shot 35 percent from the field, and was nine of 12 from the free-throw line.

RPI RANKINGS
In this week's WBCA/Summerville RPI Rankings, Oklahoma stands at No. 33 but the Sooners' strength of schedule is rated sixth best in the country.

LEADING THE WAY
Oklahoma leads the Big 12 Conference and ranks 10th in the nation in assists per game, averaging 18.1. The Sooners have dished out more assists than turnovers in 14 of 19 outings. OU has also had 10 or more assists in all but one game this season.

THEN-N-NOW
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 47.0 percent of her three-pointers, 31-for-66.

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 44.2 percent of OU's threes made. Higgins has hit 19 of the team's 43 treys.

MOORE THE MERRIER
Sophomore Kendra Moore stepped up with a career-high nine points against Kansas Wednesday night in Lawrence. The 5-5 guard also connected on a personal best of three made field goals and two three-pointers. She played 19 minutes against the Jayhawks.

YOUR PICK - INSIDE OR OUTSIDE
With Dionnah Jackson controlling the game and Leah Rush manning the paint this year's opponents are have a tough time deciding on who or what to stop on the Sooners' offense.

OU has been know to exploit Rush's smooth jumper, as well as kick it out to the wing to sophomore stantout and three-point specialist Erin Higgins.

Currently, OU's post players account for 585 of the team's 1,332 points (44%), while the guards are responsible for 60 percent of the scoring (747 points). The guards also effective in the rebounding category, accounting for 59 percent (464 points) of the team's boards. The post players pull in 41 percent (327 points).

SOONERS STREAK SNAPPED
Iowa State ended Oklahoma's run (10-games) of shooting 40 percent or better from the field. However, ISU is the ONLY team (out of eight) in Big 12 play that OU hasn't shoot better than 40 percent against.

Oklahoma had it second best conference performance from the field against Kansas Wednesday as the Sooners shot 48.9 percent from the field, hitting 23 of 47 shots. OU started out strong shooting 62.5 percent in the opening period. The last time the Sooners shot in the 60s was against Louisiana Tech at the Nike Classic. OU went 21-for-34 for 61.8 percent in the second half against the Lady Techsters (48.5&% for the game).

CONNECTIONS MADE
After struggling at the free throw line against Texas and Iowa State, OU was finally able to turn in a good performance at the stripe. The Sooners shot a season-high 93.3 percent from the free throw line at Kansas Wednesday, hitting 14-of-15 shots.

That was the best single game performance OU has had since going 10-of-10 at the stripe against Colorado last year (2/18/04).

In league games, OU ranks sixth in free throw percentage with a 70.0 accuracy.

HIGGINS ON TARGET
Sophomore sharpshooter Erin Higgins has hit 47.6 percent of her attempted three-pointers (10-of-21) over the last three games. She's also connected on 48.1 percent of all her field goals, (13-of-27).

IN SEARCH OF 500TH PROGRAM WIN
Oklahoma is EIGHT wins shy of reaching its 500 career victory. The 31-year old women's basketball program has 492 wins.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oklahoma is one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners are holding their conference opponents to just 27.9 percent (38-of-136) from three-point range and 37.4 percent from the field (181-of-484). However, OU allowed Iowa State to hit a season-high 13 threes on 27 attempts for a 47.3 three-point field goal accuracy, second best percentage among OU opponents this year.

Still, no team has shot 50 percent or better against the Sooners. The last team to shoot above 50 percent was Texas in Austin in 2003 (50.8%, 32-of-63). Iowa State was the last squad to shoot above 50 percent in Norman. The Cyclones canned 28-54 field goals for 51.9 percent. 9-17 treys for 52.9 percent in 2001.

OU has held five team to fewer that 50 points.

SHARING THE ROCK
Oklahoma leads the Big 12 Conference in assists to field goals made ratio. OU has 343 assists to its 487 field goals made for 70.4 percent assist to field goals made accuracy. Kansas is second with 66.0 percent, followed by Baylor's 65.4 assist to field goals made accuracy.

JACKSON'S CLIMBING OU'S & BIG 12 RECORD CHARTS
Senior Dionnah Jackson continues to move up in numerous OU career categories. The 5-9 point guard broke into OU's all-time scoring and rebounding charts when she had 16 points and 15 rebounds against TCU (D9). Jackson ranks among OU's greats in nine categories.

Possible Chart Moves for Jackson vs. Nebraska
Needs 1 made free throws for 11th
Needs 4 steals for 3rd (would tie Stacey Dales-Schuman)
Needs 6 defensive rebounds for 2nd (would tie Phylesha Whaley)
Needs 29 points for 10th

Jackson is also climbing the Big 12 Conference all-time assists and steals charts. She currently ranks seventh and 10th, respectively.

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