OU Hosts Big 12 Home Opener Saturday

NORMAN, Okla. -- After playing four of its last five games on the road the No. 16/18 Oklahoma women's basketball team (11-3, 1-0) returns to the Lloyd Noble Center for its Big 12 home opener against Colorado (5-8, 0-1) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CST. Tickets remain and can be purchased by calling 1-800-456-GoOU or through SoonerSports.com.

The Sooners will honor all eight of their scholarship endowment donors during a halftime ceremony.

OU has proven its road wares in the last two games with victories over-then No. 16 New Mexico and Iowa State. The Sooners handed the Lobos a second home loss on Dec. 30, making OU the first non-conference team since 1975 to claim two wins in Albuquerque. Iowa State hadn't lost at home in 21 games, dating back to the Feb. 21, 2003, but the Sooners were able to stifle ISU and pull out a 87-67 win.

Game Notes | Watch: O-Zone | Get Tickets

The Sooners hope to sustain the momentum and extend their winning steak against Colorado to three games. OU head coach Sherri Coale will call upon the recently-dynamic duo of Courtney Paris and Chelsi Welch. Paris has been one of the best players in the country all season while averaging 21.3 points and 14.6 rebounds per game. Welch on other hand has exploded in the last two contests. She has averaged 21.5 points, seven rebounds and three 3-pointers over the last two games.

Colorado will counter with forward Jackie McFarland, who is averaging 19.2 points per game, and Jasmina Ilic, who tallied a career high 36 points on Wednesday night in a 80-62 loss to Nebraska.

After CU, the Sooners close out the non-conference season with a Big Monday game at No. 10 Ohio State on ESPN.

Setting The Scene
Date: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006
Location: Norman, Okla.
Tipoff: 3:30 p.m. CST
Venue: Lloyd Noble Center (12,000)
TV: None
Webcast: O-Zone
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Radio Talent: Chuck Kelly (Play-by-Play) & Tara DeGiusti
Tickets: (800) 456-GoOU

Player To Watch
Chelsi Welch has heated up at the right time. The junior guard has tallied 43 points in the last two contests and been a major force in two decisive road wins for the Sooners. Her timing was key as the Sooners were coming off a two-game losing streak (Illinois and Michigan) and searching for a consistent second scorer. The former co-Big 12 Freshman of the Year has found her stroke knocking down six 3's and all 13 of her free throws during the two-game stretch.

Iowa State Leftovers
Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale earned her first win at Hilton Coliseum with an 87-67 defeat of the Cyclones on Wednesday night. The Sooners had not won in Ames since 1994 and were 1-9 against ISU since the start of the Big 12.

Chelsi Welch had a career night with single-game bests of 23 points and four three pointers. She led five Sooners who scored in double figures.

Courtney Paris increased her NCAA leading double-double (15 points and 13 rebounds) total to 11, while Erin Higgins canned a season high five 3-pointers. Ashley Paris recorded her first career double-double (10 points and 13 rebounds) and Leah Rush had 14 points before fouling out late.

The Sooners held the Cyclones to six 3-pointers on 22 attempts (22.3 %). OU's guard were also successful in slowing down the NCAA's top assist-woman Lyndsey Medders, who had just four assists and 12 points.

OU knocked down 13 treys, its highest total in two seasons, and outrebounded ISU, 46-32.

Notes
Welch has scored 43 points in the last two games, including 31 in the first half of those games. The output over the last two games accounts for 39 percent of her points this season. It is the best two-game effort of her career in terms of scoring and rebounding.

Erin Higgins moved into a tie for first place in the OU record books in career threes with 174. She is tied with Etta Maytubby (93-96). Higgins needed 84 fewer attempts than Maytubby to reach the mark.

OU recorded season highs in first half points (50), 3-pointers made (13), 3-pointers attempted (28) and free throw percentage (8-8, 1.000).

Britney Brown (8) and Laura Andrews (5) dished out career bests in assists.

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 82-63 (.566) Big 12 record under head coach Sherri Coale. The Sooners have won three regular season titles and two conference tournaments. 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 improved to 7-3 in Big 12 openers with the win at Iowa State and has won six of the last seven. In Big 12 home openers the Sooners are 5-4.

Overall, OU is 46-26 in Big 12 games played at the Lloyd Noble Center and 35-37 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.

Tis The Season
Sherri Coale didn't expect there to be any Christmas gifts on OU's non-conference schedule this season. Yet it is unlikely that she expected the holiday slate to be as treacherous.

The combined winning percentage of OU's December opponents entering the respective contests is 74 percent (31-11). Add in the Jan. 4 contest at Iowa State and that percentage jumps to 75 (40-13). Three teams were ranked and five of the contests were away from Norman.

Colorado Tidbits
Colorado enters the contest with a 5-8 record after losing its last two games to Oregon and Nebraska. The Buffaloes have defeated South Dakota State, UPR-Mayaguez, Pacific, Utah State and Cal State Fullerton this season.

CU head coach Kathy McConnell Miller is in her first season at the helm of the program after a six year stint at Tulsa. McConnell Miller had a combined record of 91-88 (.508) in six seasons at Tulsa.

Colorado has the worst non-conference record in the Big 12. The Buffs are leading the conference in free throw percentage (.762), but rank in the bottom half of 12 other conference statistical categories.

Individuallly, CU is led by prolific scorers Jackie McFarland and Jasmina Ilic. McFarland is fifth in the Big 12 in scoring (19.2) and fourth in rebounds (10.2). Ilic is seventh in scoring (18.9) and sixth in 3-pointers per game (2.23).

Ilic is coming off a career night against Nebraska. Ilic had 36 points but her individual effort couldn't overcome the team's 37.5 shooting percentage. The Buffaloes gave up 13 three-pointers to the Huskers, which is agood omen for OU. The Sooners have shot 46 percent from long range as a team in the last two games and knocked down 19, including 13 against Iowa State on Wednesday night.

CU boasts an all-time series advantage of 33-17 but has fallen prey to the Sooners in the last three meetings and eight of the last 10. The last time OU lost to the Buffaloes at the Lloyd Noble Center was in 1996, a span of four games. Since the start of the Big 12, OU has won 10 of 14 meetings in the series.

Records Set
Below are the records that freshman Courtney Paris has set in 14 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.
* 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 becoming the first player to score 10 or more points in the first 14 games of their career.
* Set an OU record by recording double figure rebounds in the first three games of her career.
* Owns the fifth-best single season block total with 44 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. 12 on the OU career double-double list with 11.

Efficiency Rating
It has taken long for Courtney Paris to establish herself as one of the most deadly scorers and rebounders in the country. Paris was tied for second among all NCAA players in scoring and rebounding as of Jan. 2.

Despite ranking among the nation's best in scoring and rebounding, Paris does not rank any where close to the top-10 in minutes played within her own conference. She is averaging 27.1 minutes per game. Her 40-minute averages - the length of an NCAA game - are 32.18 points and 21. 53 rebounds.

On top of her impressive traditional numbers, Paris may be the most efficient player in the country. Her 40-minutes averages are the best marks in the NCAA.

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.

It has only been two games, but Welch has reemerged as a potent scorer and rebounder while averaging 21.5 points and 7 rebounds per outing. The point (43) and rebound (14) totals are the best two-game efforts of her career.

Welch has tallied 39 percent (43) of her points this season in the last two games and knocked down six 3-pointers, which is one off a two game best for the junior.

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 two-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. As a freshman she averaged 12.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

The Best of All-Time
It is only a matter of time before Erin Higgins can claim the title as the most prolific 3-pointer shooter in OU history. In fact she only needs one more trey.

Higgins hit five 3-pointers against Iowa State to move into a first place tie with Etta Maytubby on the OU career list. Both players have 174 career treys, although it took Higgins 84 less attempts to reach the mark and the Oklahoma City native has a year and one half of eligibility remaining to take sole possession of the record.

Higgins is also fourth in career 3-point percentage at .384 (174-453) and second in attempts with 453.

Hot Start for Higgins
Erin Higgins has already knocked down 40 three-pointers this season and is shooting 46 (40-87) percent from long distance. The hot start is an improvement over last season when she started the season by making 27-of-80 attempts (34 percent) over the first 14 games of the season.

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. On the season she is 44-45 with a Big 12 leading .978 percentage and has made 19 straight.

For her career, Welch is an .854 (169-198) shooter. Her career percentage would top the OU record books, but she is two attempts short of the 200 minimum.

Welch isn't the only exceptional free throw shooter on the OU squad. Leah Rush is shooting at an .814 (201-247) percentage, which is currently the second best mark in OU history. Krista Sanchez, Kendra Moore and Erin Higgins also have career percentages of .700 or better.

Board Work
Oklahoma is the top team in the Big 12 in terms of rebounding margin at +12.1. OU is averaging 45.2 rebounds per game as compared to the opponents 33.1. In 14 games, OU has out-rebounded opponents by a minimum of 14 boards on seven occasions, including Wednesday against Iowa State. The season high was a +36 effort against SMU. Connecticut and Michigan State are the only teams to out-rebound the Sooners this season.

Paris Wins Two Big 12 Weekly Honors
Courtney Paris was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week along with Kansas guard Crystal Kemp. Paris was also recognized as the Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week for games played over the holiday break. Paris averaged 26.5 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks against two top-20 teams. The freshman tallied 29 points, 21 rebounds and a career best six blocks against No. 11 Michigan State. Against New Mexico, Paris recorded 24 points and 15 rebounds as the Sooners won 83-70 over the No. 16 Lobos.

OU In Their Words

ESPN's Nancy Lieberman
“Courtney (Paris) will own every record at OU by the time she's done, and it's absolutely remarkable what the twins might be able to do. They are program changers. They've already taken OU from a potential top-25 team to a top-12 or 15 team.”

Connecticut Head Coach Geno Auriemma
“Courtney (Paris) is not getting a lot of attention from the national media. All they want to talk about is kids that can dunk, but right now she might be the best center in the country. She might be the best freshman out there right now.”

SMU Head Coach Rhonda Rompola
“They're not a good team, they're a great team. I know right now they're ranked 25, but that's a team you're going to see jump in the polls. They'll certainly get my vote.”

Milwaukee Head Coach Sandy Botham
“She's (Courtney Paris) got great hands. She runs the floor extremely well. She's power, but yet finesse. She can just do so many different things. I swear she's got eyes in the back of her head too.”

New Mexico Head Coach Don Flanagan
“We tried everything we could on her (Courtney Paris). Not only was it her ability, but it was her team's ability to get her the ball. She creates problems because she posts up so well.”

Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
“She's (Courtney Paris) Shaq. That's who people will compare her to the Shaquille O'Neal type.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors