Sooners Set For Rematch Against Baylor

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma (12-8, 4-5 Big 12) looks to snap a three-game losing skid to Baylor Wednesday. The Sooners play host to the eighth-ranked Lady Bears (17-3, 7-2 Big 12) at 7 p.m. inside the Lloyd Noble Center. The matchup wraps up the two-game regular season series between the teams. Baylor won the first meeting, 78-68, in Waco but the game was much closer than the score indicates.

Wednesday's game will be televised by Sooner Sports Network and aired in several different markets including Oklahoma City (Cox 7) and Tulsa (Cox 3). Play-by-play action will be manned by Mark Rodgers, while Patty Phillips will serve as the color analyst. OU has seven conference games remaining; all seven of those games will be televised locally, regionally or nationally.

OU fans can also tune to KOKC-AM (1520) and www.SoonerSports.com to listen to Brian Brinkley (play-by-play) and Tara DeGiusti (color analyst) call the action.

Wednesday's game also marks the first time Baylor will step foot onto the Lloyd Noble Center court since being eliminated from the 2004 NCAA Sweet 16. The Lady Bears suffered a 71-69 loss to Tennessee on a pair of made free throws with less than a second to play.

Since the first meeting, Baylor was gone 4-1, while OU has gone 3-3. BU is on a four-game winning streak and is 3-2 in league games away from home. Both OU and Baylor have lost to Nebraska.

No. 8/7 Baylor (17-3, 7-2 Big 12)
at
Oklahoma (12-8, 4-5 Big 12)

Date: Wed., Feb. 9, 2005
Location: Norman, Okla.
Arena: Lloyd Noble Center (12.000)
Tip: 7 p.m.
TV: Sooner Sports Network
Cox 7: Oklahoma City
Cox 3: Tulsa
KSWO: Lawton
KOMI: Woodward
Metro Sports: Kansas City (taped delayed)
Time Warner: Waco, Texas
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Series: OU owns a 15-7 edge in the all-time series.
Tickets: Single game tickets are $8 (adult) and $5 (youth) and can be purchased at the LNC.
Up Next: OU plays host to No. 16 Kansas State on ESPN 2 Sunday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m.

Game Notes (PDF)

PROBABLE STARTERS
OKLAHOMA
24   F   Leah Rush (6-1, So., Amarillo, Texas, 14.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
34   G   Erin Higgins (5-9, So., Oklahoma City, Okla., 8.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
35   G   Dionnah Jackson (5-9, Sr., St. Louis, Mo., 14.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg)
12   G   Lauren Shoush (5-11, Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla., 5.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
11   G   Laura Andrews (6-0, Jr., Washington, Okla., 4.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg)

BAYLOR
33   F   Sophia Young (6-1, Jr., St. Vincent, West Indies, 17.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg)
35   F   Abiola Wabara (6-0, So., Parma, Italy, 4.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg)
45   C   Steffanie Blackmon (6-2, Sr., Dallas, Texas, 15.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg)
21   G   Chameka Scott (6-0, Jr., Friendswood, Texas, 6.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
02   G   Chelsea Whitaker (5-9, Sr., Dallas, Texas, 3.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg)

OKLAHOMA (12-8, 4-5 BIG 12)
Oklahoma enters Wednesday's game with Baylor with a 12-8 record and a 4-5 mark in Big 12 action. The Sooners witnessed one of its poorest shooting performances of the season as OU lost, 70-51, at Nebraska Sunday. OU shot 29.6 percent from the field (21-fo-71)and a terrible 9.1 percent from the arc (2-for-22). The loss dropped OU two full games behind the Cornhuskers in the league standings with just seven games to play. Four of OU's final seven games will come against teams ranked among the top 20 in the nation (BU, K-State, Texas Tech, Texas).

Four of OU's five 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 second on the team in scoring with 14.2 points per game, while leading OU with 8.7 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.

Sophomore Leah Rush leads the Sooners with 14.7 points per game, while ranking second on the club in rebounding with 6.7 rpg. Erin Higgins, a 5-9 sophomore guard, has joined Rush and Jackson in the starting lineup for all 20 games this season, adding 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Higgins has been OU's top shooter from long range, hitting 43 of 120 three-pointers (35.8 percent).

As a team, Oklahoma has averaged 69.2 points per game, while surrendering just 60.3 ppg. The Sooners are shooting 41.7 percent from the field, and out rebounding their opponents by +4.7 boards per game.

BAYLOR (17-3, 7-2 BIG 12)
Baylor enters Wednesday's game tied for third (with Texas Tech) in the Big 12 standings with a 7-2 record. The Lady Bears have gone 4-1 since picking up a 78-68 victory over OU on Jan. 16 and owns an overall mark of 17-3.

BU's second loss in league play was to Texas in Austin the following game after beating OU. The Lady Bears saw its 12-game winning streak snapped after suffering a four-point triple overtime loss at Nebraska on Jan. 12.

Baylor has a pair of national player of the year candidates on the court in junior Sophia Young and senior Steffanie Blackmon. Young leads the team in scoring (17.5) and rebounding (9.8), followed by Blackmon's 15.8 ppg and 8.1 rpg.

The Lady Bears are dangerous from the three-point line as well. Three players are shooting better than 40 from the arc. Sophomore Emily Niemann has made a team-best 34 3s and is shooting 50.0 from the arc.

BU averages 74.0 points and 41.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 41.6 percent from the arc. The Lady Bears are also outrebounding their opponents by +7.5 rpg (41.8-to-34.4).

Baylor returned four starters and 11 letterwinners that went 26-9 and 10-6 in the Big 12 Conference last year. BU finished league play tied for fourth.

SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma owns an all-time series record of 15-7 when facing the Lady Bears. Wednesday will be the 23rd meeting between the two teams.

OU is also 6-3 when playing Baylor in Norman.

Baylor swept the two-game series a year ago for the first time since 1998.

BU coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 3-6 against OU coach Sherri Coale. Coale is 11-7 all-time when playing Baylor.

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 168-103 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.

Baylor is coach by Kim Mulkey-Robertson (Louisiana Tech, 1984). Baylor found new leadership under Kim Mulkey-Robertson five years ago. Since accepting the BU head coaching position, Mulkey-Robertson has led Baylor to 115-38 record. She has also produced 20-win seasons for the last four years and has advanced BU to the NCAA Tournaments three of the four years. Mulkey-Robertson has been inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (2000) and CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame (2003).

SOONERS SHUFFLE
Head coach Sherri Coale will put her seventh different lineup on the court Wednesday. Coale has played all available 13 players in several games this season and nine players are averaging better than 10 minutes per game.

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

SOONER NOTABLES VS. BAYLOR
Chelsi Welch only played 19 minutes in the first game against Baylor. She scored six points on two of seven shooting and had three rebounds. Prior to this year's meeting, Welch had scored in double digits in the previous two games. Welch attempted a career-best 10 threes against BU on Feb. 12, 2003.

Laura Andrews had four points, five rebounds and failed to hit a three-pointer earlier this season. Andrews had a career day against Baylor in her first ever encounter (1-26-03). She had personal bests of 21 points, seven made field goals, 14 attempted field goals, five made three-pointers and 10 attempted treys. She also had 11 rebounds for her first career double-double.

Beky Preston came off the bench for five points and five rebounds in 20 minutes in the first game this year. She averages 4.2 ppg and 4.2 rpg when facing the Lady Bears.

Lauren Shoush has faced Baylor six times, averaging 3.2 ppg and 1.2 rpg. She had 11 points on four of six shooting from the field, including a 3-for-4 performance from the arc this year. Wednesday will be Shoush's third start against the Lady Bears.

Leah Rush dropped a career-high 26 points against Baylor earlier this season. She went 12-for-21 (57.1%) from the field and had five rebounds. She averages 15.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg vs. BU.

Erin Higgins hit two of three three-pointers and a pair of free throws for eight points in the first game. She averages 13.0 ppg and 3.0 rpg against BU. From the three-point line she's money, hitting 64.7 of her threes (11 of 17) vs. BU. She's also 4-for-5 from the free throw line.

Dionnah Jackson has faced Baylor eight times in her four year career. She's 5-3 against BU with averages 8.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 5.1 apg. After trailing the entire game in 2003, Jackson nailed the game winning three-pointer to give OU its first lead and a 65-64 win in Waco. That was her only made trey of the game (1-for-4).

OU VS RANKED TEAMS
Under Sherri Coale, the Sooners are 33-49 vs. top 25 programs; 8-28 vs. top 10; and 3-13 vs. top 5 teams. Baylor marks the seventh time OU will face a ranked opponent this season. OU is 1-5 vs top 25 this season.

RPI RANKINGS
In this week's WBCA/Summerville RPI Rankings, Oklahoma drops to No. 37 and the Sooners' strength of schedule slid to 12th best in the country.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Set For Rematch Against Baylor

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