No. 1-Seed OU Opens in Dallas at Noon

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma women's basketball team (26-4, 16-0 Big 12) begins its quest for a third Big 12 Championship title in the quarterfinal round of the tournament on Wednesday, March 8 at Noon CST.

OU will play No. 9-seed Iowa State (17-11, 7-9), who defeated No. 8 seed Texas 72-68 in the opening round on Tuesday afternoon. The championship returns to Dallas and Reunion Arena for the third time in the last four years.

As usual, Fox Sports Net is broadcasting the quarterfinal through championship rounds. The on-air talent for Wednesday's game will be Bill Land (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (color commentary). Local fans can also catch the game on radio station KOKC (1520 AM) with Brian Brinkley and Tara DeGiusti carrying the broadcast.

The Sooners enter the championship as the No. 1-seed after completing the first perfect conference season, 16-0, in Big 12 history.

It marks the third time that OU has been the No. 1 seed in postseason tournament. They were also the No. 1 seed in 2001 and 2002. OU won the tourney in 2002 and 2004. The Sooners are 5-1 all-time as the No. 1 seed. OU is 0-1 all-time against Iowa State in the conference tourney.

Championship Central

Iowa State advanced on Tuesday thanks to the combined efforts of Lyndsey Medders, Heather Ezell and Brittany Wilkins. Ezell and Wilkins led all scorers with 19 apiece, while Medders scored 17 and dished out five assists. The Cyclones were 8-20 from 3-point range and 25-58 from the field.

The Cyclones over came a seven-point deficit in the final 10 minutes as Ezell and Medders heated up from long range. A 42-33 advantage on the boards was also a positive omen for the Bill Fennelly led team.

If OU wins it will advance to the semifinal game on Thursday night at 6 p.m. The potential opponent in that game would be No. 4-seed Missouri, No. 5-seed Texas Tech or No. 12-seed Oklahoma State. After a day off on Friday, the Big 12 Championship Game will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 11.

Setting The Scene
Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2006
What: Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
Location: Dallas
Opponent: No. 9 seed Iowa State
Tipoff: Noon CST
Venue: Reunion Arena
TV: Fox Sports Net
TV Talent: Bill Land (Play-by-Play) & Brenda VanLengen
Radio: KOKC (1520 AM)
Radio Talent: Brian Brinkley (Play-by-Play) & Tara DeGiusti
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com

Player To Watch
After recording the third triple-double in Oklahoma history and breaking the 25-year old NCAA freshman rebounding record in the Sooners' regular season finale, Courtney Paris is on the brink of another NCAA record. The Sooner center currently has 100 blocks, which is the second best total by a freshman in NCAA history. She needs two more swats to break the 18-year old record (101) set by Kathy Gilbert of Columbia in 1987-88. Paris' 10 blocks in the finale were a Big 12 single game record.

Texas Tech Leftovers
(AP) - Courtney Paris got a triple double and set an NCAA freshman rebounding record as No. 9 Oklahoma held off Texas Tech 60-59 on Wednesday night, denying Lady Raider coach Marsha Sharp a final regular-season home win.

Paris, a candidate for national player of the year, scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked 10 shots for the Sooners (26-4, 16-0), who became the first team to go undefeated in the Big 12 since the league began in 1996. She got her record-breaking 444th rebound of the season late in the game.

Last week, Sharp announced she was resigning at the end of the season, her 24th at Tech. Her record is 571-188.

After the game, an emotional Sharp spoke to fans, telling them she's been honored to be the ``caretaker'' of the program.

LaToya Davis scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Raiders (14-13, 9-7).

Down by 17 points early in the second half, Tech used runs of 16-4 and 7-0 to go up 57-56 on a layup by Davis with 2:32 remaining. But Oklahoma answered with two free throws by Paris and a bucket by Leah Rush with 1:36 to go that put the game out of reach.

Britney Brown scored 12 points and Chelsi Welch added 11 for the Sooners.

The Sooners jumped in front early, using a 12-0 run to lead 18-5 with about 14 minutes left in the half. But Tech didn't wilt.

The Lady Raiders used a 7-3 run capped by a tough layup by Davis and an ensuing free throw to pull within 32-26 with just more than a minute remaining in the half. Welch finished the half with a 3-pointer to give the Sooners a 37-26 lead at halftime.

Postgame Notes
OU completed the first undefeated, 16-0, conference season in Big 12 history.

OU finished with a four-game lead in the final standings, which is largest margin in Big 12 history.

Courtney Paris collected 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocks for the third triple double in OU history and the seventh in Big 12 history.

It is the only triple-double in the league this season.

Paris also broke the 25-year old NCAA freshman rebounding record by improving her season total to 445.

She surpassed the record of 443 that was set by Ida Johnson of Delta State in 1981-82.

OU was outrebounded, 46-37, for just the third time in 2005-06.

Paris extended her double-double streak to 22 games and improved her season total to 27.

Oklahoma In Dallas
OU will depart from the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman for Dallas on Tuesday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m. The coaching staff, players and support staff will be staying at the Adam's Mark hotel (phone: (214) 922-8000) in Dallas. OU will not practice in Dallas prior to its first game in the second round of the tournament.

Coale One Away From 200
Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale is one win away from career victory number 200. The Sooner mentor owns a career record of 199-112, which translates into a winning percentage of .640. Her career win total ranks sixth among Big 12 coaches.

Defending Dallas Champs
OU won the 2004 Big 12 Championship, which marks the last time the event was hosted in Dallas. OU became the first No. 6 seed and the first team to win four games in route to Championship.

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.

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.”

OU Rakes In 10 Big 12 Honors
The 2006 Big 12 Regular Season Champion Oklahoma women's basketball team raked in a league high 10 postseason awards, which were announced by the conference offices on Friday, March 3.

Freshman center Courtney Paris was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. Paris also garnered All-Big 12 First Team honors, All-Big 12 Defensive Team honors and All-Big 12 Freshman team honors.

Paris did not sweep every honor available to her, as she lost out on Player of the Year to Baylor's Sophia Young.

“Courtney leads the conference in five categories and is a breath away from leading in six,” said OU head coach Sherri Coale. “She took our team from a sixth place finish last season to a first place, undefeated finish this season. She plays 29 minutes a game (a number that doesn't even place her in the top 20 in our conference) and has continually been her best when we have needed her the most. I don't know what else she could have done. I really don't.

“We accomplished something that is unprecedented in the Big 12 conference and anyone who has been on the floor with us or off the floor watching us knows the role she played in that.

Coale was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the third time in her career. She had previously won the award in 2000 and 2001.

Junior Leah Rush was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team for the second consecutive year. The rest of the Sooner's regular starting five - Britney Brown, Erin Higgins and Chelsi Welch - garnered All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors.

“What a testament to collective effort of our team,” said Coale. “I wouldn't replace one of those players with anyone else in the country. They are all more than deserving of these Big 12 honors.”

Preview - No. 9 Iowa State
Iowa State closed out the regular season with a 16-11 overall record and a 7-9 mark in Big 12 games. In their final game of the season, the Cyclones topped Colorado, 56-46, on Senior Night in Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State is led by Bill Fennelly, who needs only three wins to reach 400 career victories. He is 231-109 as head coach of ISU.

The Cyclones have three players who are averaging 10 or more points per game. Leading the team is junior Lyndsey Medders with 17.0 PPG. Medders needs 25 points to become the 17th player in ISU history to join the 1,000-point club. Also averaging in double-figures are Brittany Wilkins (15.1 PPG) and Heather Ezell (10.0 PPG).

On the season, Iowa State is hitting 40.3 percent from the floor and 30.6 from beyond the arc. The Cyclones have struggled in the past five games, however, and have averaged 36.6 percent from the field and only 20.0 percent from 3-point range.

In the Big 12, the Cyclones are ninth in scoring offense (66.8) and 10th in field goal percentage (.405). Defensively, ISU ranks at the top in field goal defense (.365) and is fifth in the conference in scoring defense (61.8).

The Sooners opened Big 12 play on Jan. 4 with an 87-67 win over the Cyclones in Ames. In that game, Chelsi Welch matched her career high with 23 points, and twins Courtney and Ashley Paris each had a double-double to lead Oklahoma to the victory.

Postgame Notes
at Iowa State | Jan. 4, 2006
Thirteen 3-pointers helped Oklahoma exercise its Hilton Coliseum demons on Jan. 4 when it beat Iowa State on its home court for the first time since the inception of the Big 12. Entering the contest, OU was 1-9 against ISU since the inception of Big 12 play and 0-4 in Ames.

The Sooners win came in decisive fashion. OU won 87-67, its largest win over ISU since 1995. The 13 makes from long range was one shy of the OU team record set in 1996 and 2001.

Chelsi Welch scored 20-plus points for the second consecutive game. Welch had 23 against the Cyclones and 20 in the previous game against New Mexico. Her combined totals of 43 points and 19 rebounds are a two-game best for the junior.

Erin Higgins moved into a tie for first place in the OU record books in career 3s 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 97-63 (.606) Big 12 record under head coach Sherri Coale. The Sooners have won four regular season titles (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006) 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.

This season Oklahoma became the first team in Big 12 history to run the table to a perfect 16-0 record in league play. OU has won 17 straight conference games dating back to 2004-05. The Sooners own the conference winning streak record of 18, which was set from 2000-01 to 2001-02.

Overall, OU is 54-26 (.675) in Big 12 games played at the Lloyd Noble Center and 44-37 (.543) in conference road contests.

Sweep Could Mean History
OU has not beat Iowa State twice in a season since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996. Although, OU did defeat Iowa State twice in seven seasons (1994, 1993, 1992, 1989, 1987, 1985 and 1984) during the Big Eight era.

A Step or Two Above
Courtney Paris has recorded a double-double in 22 consecutive games, which is a Big 12 and Oklahoma record. That total of 22 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 19 this season. Paris has a total of 27 double-doubles in 30 games this season, another Big 12 and OU record.

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.

Keep An Eye On...
Courtney Paris already has the NCAA freshman single season rebounding record and she has a chance at the bigger prize as well. The NCAA single season rebounding record is 534, a number that would take Paris six games to reach at her current pace (14.8 RPG).

The NCAA lists the top-13 single season rebounders in the official record books and every one of them came during the 1980's. Paris, who currently has 445 rebounds, is just just six shy of entering the top-13 in NCAA history.

Streaks
3 Wins over ranked teams
7 Road Wins
6 NCAA Tournament Berths
8 Road Big 12 wins
8 Home Big 12 wins
8 Home wins
8 Winning seasons
14 Wins
16 Big 12 wins this season
17 Overall conference wins
19 Starts for Britney Brown
18 Weeks in AP and Coaches Polls
18 The Big 12 record, set by OU (2001 to 2002) for consecutive conference wins over two seasons
22 Double-Doubles for Courtney Paris
30 Double figure scoring games for Courtney Paris
30 Starts for Courtney Paris
80 Starts for Leah Rush
91 Games with a made 3-pointer

Rush Scores 1,000th Career Point
Junior Leah Rush became the 19th player in OU 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 11.3 points during her career, needed 88 games to reach the milestone. Currently, Rush has 1,049 points in her three-year.

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 is 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 10 occasions, with nine of those coming in Big 12 play. 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 205, making her the first player in OU history and the 11th in Big 12 history to make 200 career treys. Higgins is 10th 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 37.7 (205-544). 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 81-88 with a Big 12 leading 92.0 percentage, which was fifth-best in the NCAA as of Feb. 27. Welch has also had a streak of 23 straight makes this season.

For her career, Welch is an 85.5 (206-241) 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 81.6 (234-287) 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.

NCAA Impact
On March 1 at Texas Tech, Courtney Paris broke the 25-year old NCAA freshman rebounding record, which was set in 1981-82 by Ida Johnson of Delta State. Now Paris needs just two blocks to set the NCAA freshman record for swats. She currently has 100 blocks and only trails Kathy Gilbert, who had 101 for Columbia in 1981-88. She is also on pace (670 points) for the fifth best scoring season by a rookie in NCAA history.

Fans Came to LNC In Record Numbers
Oklahoma set a number of attendance records this season. Three of the top four single game attendances in program history were on hand this season, while the per game average of 7,630 trumped the previous best by 6,606 set in 2001-02

All 13 of OU's regular season home games were attended by 5,000 or more fans, which is a program first. OU also recorded two sellouts, giving the program three capacity crowds in its history.

For the Feb. 12 game against Baylor, OU set a state record for a women's basketball game with a turnout of 12,112. The home season finale crowd of 12,003 was the third best mark in history.Against Texas A&M on Feb. 18, the fourth largest crowd in OU history (11,689) was on hand to watch OU clinch the Big 12 Regular Season Championship despite snowfall and outdoor temperatures of under 20 degrees.

Currently, OU is ranked No. 9 nationally in average attendance with 7,630 and should hold in that position until the end of the season.

Season ticket sales were at an all-time high with 4,000-plus packages sold. In mid-October the fan support helped OU race past the previous record of 3,512 season tickets, which was set the season (2002-03) after OU reached its first Final Four. It took only a few weeks for the sales to surpass 4,000 and set a new standard for Sooner support.

The women's hoops team also received record support from fans that can't make it out to the arena. Some 200-plus viewers tuned into the O-Zone's live webcast of the Dec. 5 game against No. 22 UCLA. It marked a record turnout for any event, regardless of sport, for the premium pay-site O-Zone.

A Little Bit of RPI Love
Oklahoma has held steady at No. 6 in the NCAA RPI rankings after five weeks of announcements. The ranking is up from their poll positions of No. 9 in AP Poll and No. 8 Coaches Polls.

Oklahoma is slated behind (in order) Tennessee, Connecticut, LSU, Duke and North Carolina. Baylor is ranked No. 12 and is the only other Big 12 Team in the top-25.

The official RPI is used as one of many tools to select teams to participate in the championships. Developed in 1981, the RPI provides supplemental data in the evaluation of teams for at-large selection and seeding of the championship bracket is only one of many pieces of information available to the committees. Qualitative factors such as games missed by student-athletes or coaches and a team's performance in the latter portion of the season cannot be reliably measured by a statistical model. However, such factors are among the details of each team considered by the committees.

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 with a 4.0 Nielsen household average rating in Oklahoma City.

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.

Getting a Rush on the Competition
Leah Rush, who is shooting 33.8 percent from 3-point range, is deadly when she makes her first attempt of the game. She has done so in 16 contests and shoots 56 percent (25-45) when she hits her first from long range. OU is 15-1 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 97 career 3's and is 31 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 37.0 percent (166-449) from 3-point range in its 26 wins and 17.6 percent (12-68) in its four losses. OU is also shooting 43.2 percent (51-118) as a team in Big 12 road games this season.

Board Work
Oklahoma is the top team in the Big 12 in terms of rebounding margin at +11.1 and ranked third nationally as of Feb. 27. OU is averaging 44.6 rebounds per game as compared to the opponents 33.5. In 30 games, OU has out-rebounded opponents by double figures on 19 occasions, including 10 of 16 Big 12 games. 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.

Stingy Sooners
OU is holding opponents to a .377 shooting percentage this season, which is 92 points lower than OU's mark of .469. The Sooners have held 21 of their 30 opponents, including 13 of 16 in Big 12 play, under .400 from the field. The season best mark was .194 against SMU.

In the Big 12 overall stats OU ranks third 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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