OU Travels to Defending NCAA Champs

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 17 Oklahoma women's basketball team (14-4, 4-0 Big 12) will travel to defending Big 12 and national champion Baylor (13-2, 3-2) on Saturday for a 7 p.m., game at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. The game will be broadcast by the Sooner Sports Network on KAUT-UPN (Cox 16 in OKC-metro area) with Mark Rodgers on play-by-play and Patti Phillips on color commentary. Fans can also catch the game on KOKC (1520 AM) with Brian Brinkley (play-by-play) and Tara DeGiusti on the broadcast.

The marquee match up pits Baylor senior forward Sophia Young against Oklahoma freshman center Courtney Paris. Young, a two-time Kodak All-American, is leading the Big 12 in scoring (21.2), while also ranking third in rebounding (10.2) and field goal percentage (.601). Paris leads the conference in six categories, most notably rebounding (15.0) and double-doubles, which are also NCAA bests.

Game Notes | Sooners Stop Tech | Gameday Central

The Lady Bears were a perfect 10-0 entering the conference season and then lost their opener at Missouri, which snapped a 30-game winning streak. Since then BU has won three of four Big 12 games with the lone setback coming in buzzer beating fashion to Texas Tech on Jan. 15. Baylor has won 24-straight home games, a challenge that the Sooners have some positive history with this season. OU has already ended home winning streaks of 21 (Iowa State), 16 (New Mexico) and nine games (Missouri State) this season.

Oklahoma is in sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with a 4-0 mark. The Sooners stand as the only undefeated team and hold a two-loss advantage on every team except Missouri, which is 4-1.

After the trip to Waco, OU will host Texas (9-6, 3-2) in the first installment of the Red River Rivalry on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. The game is being broadcast nationally by CSTV. OU will hit the road again next weekend at Texas A&M (14-4, 3-2).

Setting The Scene
Date: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006
Location: Waco, Texas
Tipoff: 7 p.m. CST
Venue: Ferrell Center (10,284)
TV: Sooner Sports Network - UPN KAUT (Cox Channel 16)
TV Talent: Mark Rodgers (Play-by-Play) & Patti Phillips
Webcast: None
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Radio Talent: Brian Brinkley (Play-by-Play) & Tara DeGiusti
Tickets: (254) 710-1000

Sooner Sports Network Affiliates
KAUT-UPN in OKC (Cox 16)
Cox 78 in Tulsa
KSWO-Lawton
KOMI-Woodward

Player To Watch
Saturday's game will feature two of the best post players in the country when Oklahoma's Courtney Paris and Baylor's Sophia Young hit the court. Young leads the Big 12 in scoring at 21.2 points per game, while Paris is right behind at 20.7. Paris tops the conference in rebounding with 15.0 per game, while Young ranks third with 10.2. Both are coming off stellar outings on Wednesday night and could give their respective teams a leg up with similar efforts on Saturday.

Sign of the Times - 26
In two Big 12 road games this season Oklahoma has made 26 three-pointers and shot 46.4 percent (26-56) from long range. Baylor is holding opponents to a 26.5 percentage from long range this season, which is the second best mark in the Big 12.

Texas Tech Leftovers
When its transition offense isn't working well, Oklahoma has a nice safety net in Courtney Paris.

The Sooners' offense sputtered at times Wednesday night against Texas Tech, before the freshman center rescued them with her 10th straight double-double, finishing with 17 points and 19 rebounds as No. 17 Oklahoma won 63-57.

Oklahoma (14-4, 4-0 Big 12) remained the conference's only unbeaten team in league play heading into its game Saturday at defending national champion Baylor.

Texas Tech (7-8, 2-2) came into Wednesday's game off a win over Baylor, and Tech assistant coach Krista Gerlich said after the game that Oklahoma is ``the best team in our conference.''

Texas Tech was without head coach Marsha Sharp, who was briefly hospitalized earlier in the day after suffering flu-like symptoms during a shootaround at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Postgame Notes
The Sooners used a 10-0 run late in the first period to take a 37-29 lead going into halftime. For the sixth straight game the Sooners led going into halftime. OU is now 14-2 when ahead at the break.

Courtney Paris finished the game with 17 points and 19 rebounds in 34 minutes of action. This marks the 15th time this season she has recorded double figures in rebounds.

Paris finished with seven blocks on the night setting a career high. Her previous high was six against Michigan State. Seven blocks by an individual is a record for a Sherri Coale coached team.

Britney Brown finished with 9 points on 4-of-10 shooting. In the last three games combined, she has compiled 28 total points with an average of 9.3 points per game. In the previous 12 games she had a combined 25 points and averaged only two points a game.

Big 12 History
The Oklahoma Sooners went 8-8 in the Big 12 last season and finished in a tie for sixth place. All-time, OU has a 85-63 (.571) Big 12 record under head coach Sherri Coale. The Sooners have won three regular season titles (2000, 2001, 2002) and two conference tournaments (2002, 2004). The Sooners were picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 Coaches Preseason Poll this season, behind No. 1 Baylor, No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Texas Tech.

Oklahoma is 4-0 in conference, which is its second best start to Big 12 play, tying the 2001-02 team. The best start in program history was 9-0 in 1999-2000.

Overall, OU is 48-26 in Big 12 games played at the Lloyd Noble Center and 37-37 in conference road contests.

Junior Leah Rush was named to the Coaches Preseason All-Big 12 Team and freshman Courtney Paris was selected by the coaches as the Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Baylor Tidbits
Baylor claimed the Big 12's first National Championship last season and rolled out 10 consecutive wins to start the season, stretching its Big 12 record win streak to 30 games. The Lady Bears have a 3-2 Big 12 mark and are in a tie for third place in the league.

Baylor is led by player of the year candidate Sophia Young, who is averaging a double-double with 21.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Starting point guard Angela Tisdale is second in the conference in assists (6.58) and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.76). Also earning regular starts are Abiola Wabara (10 PPG), Chameka Scott (8.2 PPG) and La Toya Wyatt (5.1 PPG).

The Lady Bears are coached by Kim Mulkey-Robertson, who has a six-year career record of 144-40. She led the Lady Bears to the Big 12 regular season and tournament title last year.

Three Sooners have had significant offensive success against Baylor. Leah Rush has averaged 14.3 PPG in four games. Laura Andrews has complimented a scoring average of 8.2 by shooting 45.4 percent from long range against BU. As a freshman she set a career high with 21 points in Waco. Erin Higgins has averaged 9.8, while making 61.9 of her 3-point attempts against the Lady Bears.

OU leads the all-time series 15-8 but has lost four straight, including a buzzer beating loss in Norman last season. Prior to the four-game skid, OU had won 11 straight over Baylor. OU is 6-4 in games played in Waco.

Baylor defeated Texas A&M 60-49 on Wednesday night. Young poured in a game-high 28, while Wabara snared 11 boards.

Pregame Lay Ups
Saturday will be the 300th game of Sherri Coale's career ... Leah Rush has made 12 consecutive free throws dating back to the Michigan State game ... Courtney Paris has pulled down 174 rebounds in the last 10 games and is averaging 16.3 in Big 12 play ... Paris is only averaging 27.3 minutes per game in league play, down more than half a minute (0.6) from her season average.

Board Work
Oklahoma is the top team in the Big 12 in terms of rebounding margin at +12.1 and ranked third nationally as of Jan. 16. OU is averaging 44.8 rebounds per game as compared to the opponents 32.7. In 18 games, OU has out-rebounded opponents by double figures on 13 occasions, including all four Big 12 games this season. The season high was a +36 effort against SMU. Connecticut and Michigan State are the only teams to out-rebound the Sooners this season.

Records Set
Below are the records that freshman Courtney Paris has set in 18 games:
* The fastest player to 100, 200 and 300 points in OU history, she needed five games to eclipse the century mark and 10 to reach 200 and 14 to reach 300.
* The fastest player to 100 and 200 rebounds in OU history, she needed nine games to reach the century mark and 14 to reach 200.
* Owns the OU single season record with 15 double-doubles.
* Owns the OU freshman rebounding record with 270 boards and counting.
* In the midst of OU record streak of 10 consecutive double-doubles.
* Set an OU record by becoming the first player to score 10 or more points in the first 18 games of their career, which is the fifth best streak in program history.
* Set an OU freshman single game record with 22 rebounds against UCLA.
* Owns the best 10-game freshman scoring average, 21.0, in OU history (previous was 13.2 by Angie Guffy, 1991-92).
* Owns the best 10-game freshman rebounding average, 13.6, in OU history (previous was 8 by Angie Guffy, 1991-92).
* 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 recording double figure rebounds in the first three games of her career.
* Owns the third-best single season block total with 58 blocks.
* 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 the second round game against SMU. Also set the tournament rebound record with 54 total boards in four games.
* Tied for No. 6 on the OU career double-double list with 15.

NCAA Impact
Courtney Paris is putting together one of the best freshman seasons in NCAA history and if she continues her current pace the record books will show it. Stretched out over a 31-game season, which includes the regular season and one Big 12 tournament game, she is on pace to collect 465 rebounds, which would top the current record of 443 by Ida Johnson (Delta State, 1982). She is also on pace for the sixth best scoring season by a rookie in NCAA history. Her projected total is 641, which would fall just short of the top five that is headlined by Tennessee legend Tamika Catchings at No. 3 with 711.

Four-time Rookie Winner
Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) was awarded the first two Big 12 Rookie of the Week awards for the 2005-06 season and then claimed another on Jan. 3 and a fourth on Jan. 16. She was also named Co-Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 3.

On Jan. 16, Paris garnered the rookie honor after averaging 17.5 points, 15 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in games against Ohio State and Oklahoma State.
On Jan. 3 Paris was given rookie and player honors for averaging 26.5 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks against top-20 teams Michigan State and New Mexico.

On Nov. 28 Paris was selected for leading Oklahoma to a perfect 2-0 record and the Odwalla Classic Championship while averaging 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

On Nov. 21 Paris won the first honor of the season after leading OU to a 3-1 start and the championship game of the Preseason WNIT by averaging 22 points and 13.5 rebounds.

Guess Who's Back
It was a hot topic of conversation leading up to the 2005-06 season; whether or not Chelsi Welch would be able to return to the form that earned her Co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors in 2002-03.

The junior has reestablished herself as a consistent scoring threat in the last six games. She has reemerged to average 14.8 points and 5.2 rebounds during the run.

Welch has tallied 57 percent (89-of-156) of her points this season in the last six games.

Welch refound her stroke at the right time for OU. The Sooners were coming off a two-game losing streak, during which the missing piece was a secondary scorer alongside freshman phenom Courtney Paris. Coincidentally, the six-game outburst coincided with her return to the starting lineup. She started the first four games of the year before coming off the bench in the next eight contests.

Welch tore the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in her left knee prior to her sophomore season (2003-04). She returned last year to average 5.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game last season. As a freshman she averaged 12.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

The Best of All-time
It was only a matter of time before Erin Higgins took the spot at the top. On January 7th she became the OU career leader in 3-pointers made by knocking down two against Colorado to improve her career total to 176. She has since increased the total to 183.

Higgins hit five 3-pointers against Iowa State on Jan. 4, to move into a first place tie with Etta Maytubby on the OU career list. Both players had 174 career treys, although it took Higgins 84 less attempts to reach the mark. Now the Oklahoma City native has the remainder of this season and next year to build on the record.

Higgins is also fourth in career 3-point percentage at .381 (183-480) and second in attempts with 480. At her current pace, Higgins will finish her career with 296 treys.

Hot Start for Higgins
Erin Higgins has already knocked down 49 three-pointers this season and is shooting 43 (49-114) percent from long distance. The hot start is an improvement over last season when she impressed by shooting 37 percent (67-181) on the year. Higgins is on pace to make 87 threes this season, which would tie the single season record held by Carin Stiles (1990-91)

There are a number of factors behind her improved accuracy. Perhaps the biggest effect has been the open space created by OU's inside game. Higgins also believes she has become a more consistent shooter, while Coach Coale credits her improved dribble and drive ability. Higgins has hit a number of bombs off the dribble, a skill she polished during the off-season.

Charity Worker
Junior Chelsi Welch made her first 25 free throws this season to extend her career best streak to 28 consecutive free throws dating back to the Kansas State game on Feb. 13, 2005. She missed her eighth attempt against Oral Roberts but finished the game 11-12 from the charity stripe. The streak was three short of breaking into the NCAA records books as one of the top-20 streaks of all-time.

On the season she is 56-59 with a Big 12 leading .949 percentage and recently had a streak of 23 consecutive makes end.

For her career, Welch is an .854 (181-212) shooter, which is the best mark in OU history. She isn't the only exceptional free throw shooter on the OU squad. Leah Rush is shooting at an .815 (203-249) percentage, which is currently the third best mark in OU history. Krista Sanchez, Kendra Moore and Erin Higgins also have career percentages of .700 or better.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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