OU Begins Tournament With Pepperdine

NORMAN, Okla. -- All of Oklahoma's goals in the NCAA Tournament begin at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Saturday, March 18 when the No. 2-seed Sooners face No. 15-seed Pepperdine at Noon CST (11 a.m. MST) on ESPN2. The game is the opening contest in Denver and one of the first games in the San Antonio Regional.

All of the games from the Denver Sub-Regional, which feeds into the San Antonio Regional, will be aired on ESPN2 with Pam Ward (play-by-play), Nancy Lieberman (color) and Heather Cox (sideline reporter). Fans staying home in Oklahoma can also catch the game on radio station KOKC (1520 AM) with Brian Brinkley and Tara DeGiusti.

The No. 2 seed Sooners (29-4) enter the tournament in the midst of a 17-game winning streak, which is the fifth longest active streak in country. OU's hopes of extending the streak to 23 begins against Pepperdine (14-16), who upset Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game to claim the league's automatic bid.

Oklahoma Tournament Central | Game Notes PDF

The Waves will have to contend with Wooden and Naismith Awards candidate Courtney Paris, who averaged 25.7 points and 17.3 points in route to the MVP honors in the Big 12 Championship. Her offensive sidekick in that conference tourney was Erin Higgins, who has knocked down 19 three-pointers in the last five games and is shooting 56 percent from long range during that stretch.

Pepperdine is led by Daphanie Kennedy, the WCC Tournament MVP, who is averaging 12 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Kelsy Ball, the lone senior in the starting lineup, was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year.

The winner between Pepperdine and OU will meet the victor between No. 7 BYU and No. 10 Iowa. The Hawkeyes and Cougars will play 30 minutes after the Sooners on Saturday. The second round game will be played at 6 or 8:30 p.m. CST.

Setting The Scene
Date: Saturday, March 18, 2006
What: First Round NCAA Tournament
Location: Denver
Arena: Pepsi Center
Opponent: No. 15 Seed Pepperdine
Tipoff: Noon CST
TV: ESPN2
TV Talent: Pam Ward (play-by-play), Nancy Lieberman (color) & Heather Cox (sideline)
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Radio Talent: Brian Brinkley (Play-by-Play) & Tara DeGiusti
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com

OU in Denver
Thursday
3:30 pm CST - Fly to Denver
4:30 PM MST - Arrive in Denver
5 PM MST Arrive at Warwick Hotel

Friday
8:30-3:30 PM - Credential Distribution
10:20-10:50 - Press Conference
11-11:50 - Practice

Saturday
7-7:20 AM - Shootaround
11:00 AM - Game vs. Pepperdine
1:30 PM - Iowa vs. BYU

If OU wins first round game
Sunday
Noon-1:30 PM Practice
1:50-2:20 PM Press Conference

Monday
5 PM - Second Round Game (TBA)
7:30 PM - Second Round Game (TBA)
*Note*- All events at Pepsi Center, unless noted otherwise. All events subject to change.

Important Information
Team Hotel - The Warwick Denver: (303) 861-2000
Address:
1776 Grant Street
Denver, Colorado 80203

Media Hotel - Mariott City Center: (303) 297-1300
Address:
1701 California Street
Denver, Colorado 80202

Player To Watch
Courtney Paris enters her first NCAA Tournament fresh off an MVP performance in the Big 12 Championship. Paris played at a torrid pace in the tournament when she averaged 25.7 points, 17.3 rebounds and 3.6 blocks. The Wooden and Naismith Award candidate has already set 36 OU records, eight Big 12 records and two NCAA records this season. The rookie phenom is on the cusp of becoming the first player in NCAA history to collect 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a season.

700|500|100
Courtney Paris is three rebounds shy of becoming the only player in NCAA history to record 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a season. Currently, she has 705 points, 497 rebounds and 111 blocks. The milestone is well within reach considering she averages 15.1 rebounds per game.

Only two players have collected 500 rebounds in the 25-year history of the NCAA. Wanda Ford of Drake had 534 rebounds in 1984-85 and 506 rebounds in 1985-86. Anna Donovan had 504 boards in 1982-83.

Counting Down From 38
Courtney Paris needs 38 rebounds to break the NCAA single season rebounding record, regardless of class. She is currently fourth behind Wanda Ford and Anne Donovan. Ford has the top two marks (534 in 1984-85 and 506 in 1985-86). Donovan has the third best mark (504 in 1982-83).

Counting Down From 18
Paris, nicknamed CP3, needs 18 points to break the Big 12 single season scoring record of 722 by Edwina Brown (Texas in 1999-00). Currenty, Paris has 705 points, which ranks third in league history. She also trails Alicia Thompson (Texas Tech), who scored 719 points in 1997-98.

The Score is 4-2
CP3 ranks in the top-10 in four different statistical categories among all NCAA players. Those categories are points per game (21.4), field goal percentage (.611), rebounds per game (15.1) and blocks per game (3.5). No other player in Division I, let alone on the Wooden and Naismith Player of the Year list, ranks in the top-10 in more than two categories. Add in her NCAA best 30 doubles and 497 rebounds (NCAA only keeps average) and the freshman ranks in the top-10 of six categories.

If Oklahoma Wins...
* It will advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in nine NCAA appearances.
* It will extend its winning streak to 18 games, which will be a school record breaking the mark from 2000-01.
* It will play the winner of No. 7-seed BYU and No. 10-seed Iowa in the second round. A meeting with Iowa would be the second of the season.
* It will have won three straight in the series with Pepperdine.
* It will clinch the second 30 win season in program history. OU set a school record with 32 wins in 2001-02.
* It win not become the first No. 2 seed to lose in the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to 64 in 1994.

Trends
Erin Higgins is shooting 56 percent from long range over the last four games when she has hit 14 of 25 attempts. In the last two game she has hit 9-of-15 for a .666 percentage.
Higgins is OU's second leading scorer during that period at 11 points per.
Higgins has moved up to No. 2 on the OU single season 3-point makes list with 83, the record is 87
Courtney Paris is averaging 5.5 blocks during the last four games. Paris has averaged 23.5 points and 15.3 rebounds against ranked teams this season.
OU has won four straight against ranked teams, three of those being No. 10 Baylor
Britney Brown has scored nine or more points on 12 occasions, all since the first of the year. She has also dished out five or more assists nine times since Jan. 1, including three of the last four games.
Chelsi Welch has scored in double figures 16 times this season, 13 times since the first of the year.
Higgins has made four or more threes on 10 occasions this year.

Leading In Every Category
First OU won the regular season title with three games left to play. Then it completed the first 16-0 Big 12 season in the league's 10-year history. The Sooners didn't stop there though. OU topped the league with seven academic honors, five first team and two second team. Then OU collected a league-high 10 postseason awards.

OU completed the sweep in the postseason by winning the Big 12 Championship and placing Courtney Paris, Erin Higgins and Leah Rush on the all-tourney team. Paris topped it off by garnering tournament MVP honors.

The bounty of trophies was not lost on OU head coach Sherri Coale, who said, “Perhaps the recognition we are most proud of is the Academic All-Big 12 Team. We had seven players recognized, which led the league. To succeed on the floor and in the classroom is the ultimate accomplishment. I couldn't be more proud of my team.”

Coale notches win no. 200
The Sooners semifinal win over Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship clinched win No. 200 for Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale. The Sooner mentor owns a career record of 202-112, which translates into a winning percentage of .643. Her career win total ranks sixth among Big 12 coaches.

Coale-Fired Sooners
The coaching job of OU head coach Sherri Coale has been a overlooked factor in the Sooners' success this season. The humble mentor is the consensus Big 12 Coach of the Year and the 2006 WBCA Region 5 Coach of the Year.

Coale has melded a National Champiosnhip contender with what is essentially a young squad. Only 7 percent of OU's points and 11 percent of its rebounds come from seniors Laura Andrews and Beky Preston. The junior and freshmen classes are carrying the load.

Additionally, Coale was able to convince her team from the outset that they needed to ride the broad offensive shoulders of freshman Courtney Paris, who is averaging 21.4 points per game. Junior Leah Rush led OU last season with 15.5 PPG, her averaged has dropped 5.5 points this season.

While some individual stats have suffered the team's win total has soared. OU already has 12 more wins than it did last season. In 2004-05, OU was 17-13 and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This season OU is 29-4 and a No. 2 seed in the Big Dance. That is one of the most dramatic improvements in the country.

Recapping the Big 12 Championship Game
(AP) -Freshman standout Courtney Paris had 24 points and 26 rebounds and Oklahoma completed its undefeated run through the Big 12 by beating Baylor 72-61 for the conference tournament championship.

After becoming the first Big 12 women's team to go 16-0 in conference play, the No. 8 Sooners (29-4) won the league's tournament for the third time in five seasons.

Big 12 player of the year Sophia Young had 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting and nine rebounds for No. 10 Baylor (25-5), the defending NCAA champion that also won the conference tournament last year.

But Paris dominated the game - and the tournament.

Paris was selected the MVP of the tournament. She had 77 points and 52 rebounds over three games, and is already well on the way to breaking many of the Big 12 records Young set over the past four seasons.

The 26 rebounds broke the Big 12 tournament record of 16 Paris set in Oklahoma's opening game this week. She has 497 rebounds this season, and almost certainly will become only the third woman ever to reach 500 in Oklahoma's first NCAA game - when she also will become the first player ever with 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks.

Erin Higgins and Britney Brown had 15 points each for Oklahoma, with Higgins' points coming on five 3-pointers. Leah Rush had 12 points.

Angela Tisdale had 14 points and Jessica Morrow 10 for Baylor, whose only three losses in its last 13 games are against Oklahoma.

During the regular season, Oklahoma beat Baylor twice by a combined seven points. The Sooners won in Waco on Jan. 21 when Kendra Moore made a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left, and needed overtime to win at home three weeks later.

This time, it wasn't that pretty. And it really wasn't that close.

Oklahoma had 32 turnovers, 19 of them by halftime that Baylor turned into 14 points to stay within 31-27 at the break.

Baylor shot a season-worst 20-of-79 (25 percent) and never led after the first 3 minutes. Higgins' 3-pointer with 16:07 left broke a 6-all tie.

During one stretch in the first half, Baylor kept passing on the outside. When it finally passed inside to Young, Paris blocked the shot. Paris blocked the next shot as well, and the Lady Bears were 1-of-15 before Jordan Davis made a 3-pointer with 12:22 left to make it 13-11.

Higgins and Rush hit 3s on the next two Oklahoma possessions and it was 19-11.

Young missed her first six shots before finally hitting to make it 28-26 with 1:45 left. She hit a free throw a half-minute later, but that was the closest Baylor got. Higgins ended the half with another 3-pointer, and the Sooners led by as many as 14 points after that.

Previewing Pepperdine
Pepperdine earned the West Coast Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA women's basketball tournament with three wins in the WCC Tournament. The Waves toppled top-seeded Santa Clara, 71-67, in the championship game. Pepperdine is making its fourth trip to the Big Dance and has not made an appearance in the tournament since 2003.

Pepperdine is coached by Julie Rousseau who is in her second season with the Waves. She has tallied a 26-33 record as head coach.

The Waves have two players who are averaging over 10 points per contest. Sophomore guard Daphanie Kennedy leads the team in PPG (12.0), steals (48) and assists (61) and is also pulling down 4.8 boards per game. Also scoring in double figures is forward/center junior Jasmane Clarendon, who averages 11.5 points and leads the team in rebounds with 6.9.

On the season, Pepperdine is hitting 38.6 percent from the field and 28.6 from beyond the arc. The squad trails its opponents, who are averaging 39.3 from field goal range and 32.5 from 3-point range.

In the WCC, the Waves are ranked third in scoring offense (63.2 PPG) and first in offensive rebounds per game (14.43). They are ranked near the bottom of the league in field goal percentage (.386) and 3-point field goal percentage (.284).

Oklahoma and Pepperdine will meet for the fourth time with their last meeting on Nov. 29, 2003, when the Sooners defeated the Waves 95-77 in Malibu, Calif., in the Pepperdine Tournament. OU has a 2-1 advantage in the series.

Against the NCAA Field
Oklahoma is 14-3 against teams in the NCAA Tournament this season. In those contests Courtney Paris has averaged 23 points while shooting 64.9 percent from the field and collecting 15.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.

Also of note is the fact that Erin Higgins made 44 treys and shot 43 percent from beyond the arc, while Britney Brown shot 49 percent from floor in the specified contests. Seven Sooners averaged five or more points, with Paris and Leah Rush (10.6) being the only players in double-digits.

Notes on Oklahom and the NCAA Tournament
OU is 12-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
OU is 2-1 as a No. 2 seed. The Sooners were also a No. 2 seed in 2000-01.
Oklahoma has 12 wins against the 1-8 seeds in this year's tournament.
The only teams with more wins against the top 32 teams in the field are Tennessee (16) and North Carolina (15). Duke also has 12 wins.
OU is 10-6 under Sherri Coale in NCAA Tournament.
OU has advanced to the second round of the Tournament in six of eight previous appearances.
A No. 2 seed has not lost its opening game in the NCAA Tourney since the field expanded to 64 in 1994.
Only five No. 2 seeds have not reached to the Sweet 16.
Baylor was a No. 2 seed when it won the National Championship last season, as was UConn in 2004.

Coale & Paris Earn Regional Honors
Sherri Coale was named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 5 Coach of the Year on March 14. Coale is now a candidate for the WBCA National Coach of the year along with Pam Summitt (Tennessee), C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers), Sylvia Hatchell (North Carolina), Curt Miller (Bowling Green), Jim Wieldle (Indiana State), Don Flanagan (New Mexico) and Charlie Thorne (Arizona State). Coale was the consensus Big 12 Coach of the Year, sweeping every media and league sanctioned honor.

Courtney Paris was also one of six athletes named to the WBCA All-Region 5 team and is now an official candidate for 10-member Kodak All-America Team. Also on the Region 5 team were LaToya Davis (Texas Tech) , Erin Grant (Texas Tech) , Tiffany Jackson (Texas) LaToya Bond (Missouri) and Sophia Young (Baylor). A total of 48 players are up for the Kodak All-America Team.

Double Take
Check the final Big 12 only stats for the 2006 season and you might make a double take. It is no surprise that Courtney Paris led the league in field goal percentage at .597. What is surprising, and indicative of OU's success, is the fact that point guard Britney Brown is seventh in field goal percentage and Chelsi Welch is 11th. Brown shot 50 percent (52-104) from the field in Big 12 games, while Welch shot 46.9 percent (61-130). Welch's effort was helped by the her 44.9 percentage (22-49) from 3-point range, which ranked as the second best mark. Brown and Welch were two of three guards, LaToya Bond of Missouri was the other, among the top-15.

Paris Streaks Past the Rest
Courtney Paris has recorded a double-double in 25 consecutive games, which is a Big 12 and Oklahoma record. That total of 25 is higher than the season total of any other player in Division I women's basketball. The next closest is Jillian Robbins of Tulsa, who has 20 this season. Paris has a total of 30 double-doubles in 33 games this season, another Big 12 and OU record.

Rush Scores 1,000th Career Point
Junior Leah Rush became the 19th player in Oklahoma 1,000 point club when she scored 12 points against Baylor on Feb. 12. She was the ninth fastest player in OU history to the career milestone. Rush, who has averaged 11.2 points during her career, needed 88 games to reach the milestone. Currently, Rush has 1,074 points in her three-year career.

What Can Brown Do For OU?
Junior point guard Britney Brown's improved play since the start of the Big 12 season was a major factor in OU's surge to the Big 12 Regular Season Championship. Brown averaged 8.5 points and 4.8 assists per game during Big 12 play. Both marks trump her non-conference averages (3.5 and 2.8) by hefty margins (5.0 in points, 2.0 in assists). The Norman native has taken advantage of opponents sagging defense by increasing her offensive output. She has scored nine or more points on 12 occasions, with 11 of those coming against Big 12 teams. The other instance was against then-No. 10 Ohio State on Jan. 9, which occurred after Big 12 play had begun.

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 and a regular contributor during the Big 12 season, during which time she has averaged 11.4 points per game. She averaged 7.1 prior to the start of the Big 12.

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 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 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 and setting her career mark at 176. She has since increased the total to 217, making her the first player in OU history and the 11th in Big 12 history to make 200 career treys. Higgins is eighth on the Big 12 all-time list in career makes.

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 38.3 (217-567). She recently set an OU record of 19 consecutive games with a three-pointer.

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 87-94 with a Big 12 leading 92.6 percentage, which was fifth-best in the NCAA as of March 6. Welch has also had a streak of 23 straight makes this season.

For her career, Welch is an 85.8 (212-247) 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 81.4 (237-291) percentage, which is currently the third best mark in OU history. Krista Sanchez and Erin Higgins also have career percentages of 70 percent or better.

Ratings Record
Oklahoma's 81-77 overtime victory (Feb. 12) over defending national champion Baylor was the highest-rated regular season women's basketball telecast of all time on FSN Southwest. The game received a 4.0 Nielsen household average rating in Oklahoma City, which is a high for a local market in the Fox Sports Southwest region.

Then the budding rivals met in the title game of the Big 12 Championship and the game drew a 7.1 Nielsen rating, setting another FSN viewership record. The previous record for a local market with the Fox Sports Southwest region was 6.6 in OKC for the 2004 title game between Oklahoma and Texas.

It topped the previous regular-season record of 3.7, also set in Oklahoma City on Feb. 27, 2002 for Texas Tech-Oklahoma. The Baylor-OU telecast received its largest audience in the final quarter-hour, scoring a 6.1 rating from 4:30-4:45 PM CT during the game's overtime period.

FSN Southwest's highest-rated women's basketball telecast ever (regular season and playoffs) also belongs to Oklahoma. The Sooners' 2004 Big 12 Tournament championship victory over Texas on March 13, 2004 registered a 6.6 household rating in Oklahoma City.

Also of note is that OU's home finale against Nebraska on Feb. 26 earned a 5.1 rating for ESPN2.

Board Work
Oklahoma is the top team in the Big 12 in terms of rebounding margin at +11.4 and ranked third nationally as of March 12. OU is averaging 45.0 rebounds per game as compared to the opponents 33.6. In 33 games, OU has out-rebounded opponents by double figures on 23 occasions, including 13 of 19 Big 12 opponents. The season high was a +36 effort against SMU. Connecticut, Michigan State and Texas Tech (in the second meeting) are the only teams to out-rebound the Sooners this season.

Getting a Rush on the Competition
Leah Rush, who is shooting 33.3 percent from 3-point range, is deadly when she makes her first attempt of the game. She has done so in 17 contests and shoots 57 percent (27-47) when she hits her first from long range. OU is 16-1 in those contests with the lone loss coming to Illinois.

Sorry Pam Pennon
Sorry Pam Pennon (1995-96) but your name was just erased from the OU record books, at least in one category. Pennon had held the No. 10 spot in career 3-pointers (88) until Chelsi Welch knocked down three treys at Missouri on Feb. 4. Welch currently has 101 career 3's and is 27 shy of No. 9 Melissa Richie (1992-95). Laura Andrews and her 91 career makes is just behind Pennon and Welch at No. 12 on the career list.

Threes The Key?
Oklahoma is shooting 36.9 percent (184-499) from 3-point range in its 29 wins and 17.6 percent (12-68) in its four losses. OU also shot 43.2 percent (51-118) as a team in Big 12 road games this season.

Paris, Wooden & Naismith
Oklahoma freshman center Courtney Paris is the only true-freshman on the current candidacy lists for the Women's Wooden and Naismith Awards, both of which are presented to the top players in the game. Paris is on the final ballot for the Wooden Award, along with 18 others. The Naismith has not announced a final list for its award.

Stingy Sooners
OU is holding opponents to a .371 shooting percentage this season, which is 101 points lower than OU's mark of .472. The Sooners have held 23 of their 33 opponents, including 15 of 19 conference team, under .400 from the field. The season best mark was .194 against SMU.

In the Big 12 overall stats OU ranks second in field goal percentage defense. The Sooners improved in Big 12 play, during which time they held opponents to a conference best .363 mark, including just .293 from 3-point range.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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