Completed Event: Women's Basketball at #23 Alabama on February 15, 2026 , Win , 79, to, 71
Final
Women's Basketball
79
at #23 Alabama
71
University of Oklahoma Athletics
No. 6 Sooners Start Big 12 Play
January 08, 2008 | Women's Basketball
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The Sooners have beaten the Cyclones just once in Ames under Sherri Coale, but have won the last four meetings, including 2007's Big 12 Tournament Championship Game.
The game airs on the Sooner Sports Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Brian Brinkley and Tara DeGiusti on the call. Tip-off is 7 p.m. Central.
PREVEIWING IOWA STATE
In the 46th meeting between the Sooners and Cyclones, something has got to give as Iowa State seeks to protect its 15-game home winning streak.
The matchup pits the nation's No. 7 scoring offense in Oklahoma (9-2) against the nation's No. 5 scoring defense in Iowa State (11-2). The Sooners score 80.7 points per game while the Cyclones give up just 50.7.
Though the past two regular-season meetings have been a wash with OU scoring 20-point victories in both contests, the past two meetings in the Big 12 Tournament have gone down to the wire. In the 2007 championship game, OU won 67-60, and in the 2006 tourney, OU triumphed in a 78-74 decision.
Iowa State returned 10 letterwinners from its 2006-07 team that finished the season 26-9 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Similarly to OU, Iowa State's team will play no seniors. Toccara Ross, the team's only senior, will miss the remainder of the season after tearing her ACL in a game against Minnesota.
Should the game come down to the wire, finding an edge may be tough. ISU leads the nation in fouls, but OU is 323 of 326 Division I teams in free-throw percentage.
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THE ALL-TIME SERIES
Oklahoma leads the series with Iowa State, 28-17, including victories in the last four meetings. The last time OU and Iowa State met was March 10, 2007, in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game in Oklahoma City, won by the Sooners 67-60.
In Ames, Iowa, the Cyclones reign supreme with 11 wins to Oklahoma's three. Sherri Coale picked up her first win in Ames during the Sooners last visit in 2006, an 87-67 rout.
Coale, who has coached the Sooners since the inception of the Big 12 Conference, is 5-9 against Iowa State, with a 3-8 mark in regular-season only games. Her first win against ISU came Feb. 22, 2003, in her seventh season. Under Coale in Ames, OU is 1-4.
NATIONAL ATTENDANCE LEADER
Oklahoma set a program record for attendance last season and, if early indications prove true, another record should be set in 2007-08.
After four home games, OU's per game attendance average stands at 9,882, currently No. 3 in the nation for average home game attendance.
Oklahoma was No. 4 in national attendance last season and No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference with an average of 10,437 in the seats for OU's 12 home games.
BENCHMARK GAMES AHEAD
Currently Sherri Coale has 241 victories in her 12th year as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Coale could reach her 250th victory as soon as Feb. 6, against Missouri.
Oklahoma started its women's basketball program for the 1974-75 season and is approaching its 1,000th game. To date, the Sooners are 21 games shy of 1,000 in program history. There are 17 games left in the regular season, which would mean that if OU failed to get a first-round bye for the Big 12 Tournament, the first opportunity to play 1,000 would be in the Championship Game.
SEEKING SOLE POSSESSION
Oklahoma's Sherri Coale, Iowa State's Bill Fennelly, and the retired Jody Conradt formerly of Texas, share most regular-season Big 12 Conference coaching victories with 110 apiece. Either Coale or Fennelly will walk away from January 9th with sole possession (at least temporarily) of the record.
Including Big 12 Tournament wins, Fennelly has the most conference-only victories with 118 with Coale trailing by one at 117. However, Coale leads in overall winning percentage .635 (127-73) to Fennelly's .631 (128-75).
48 WEEKS...AND COUNTING
With Oklahoma's jump in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls this week, the Sooners have appeared in both for 48 straight polls (including preseason polls).
OU's record for consecutive Top 25 poll appearances is 59 in the AP (from week 11 of the 1999-2000 season to week 11 of the 2002-03 season) and 60 in the Coaches (from week 11 of the 1999-2000 season to week 13 of the 2002-03 season).
Both stints including 26 consecutive weeks being ranked in the Top 10. OU also had a 19-week run in the Top 10 of the AP Poll and 20-week run in the Top 10 of the Coaches Poll over the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
This season, Oklahoma has been in the Top 10 of the AP Poll for 10 straight weeks (all season) and seven straight Coaches' Polls (since week three).
RECAPPING SOUTH CAROLINA
Freshman guard Danielle Robinson scored a career-high 20 points to go with six assists and Paris kept her double-double streak alive as No. 9 Oklahoma routed South Carolina 95-63.
The 6-foot-4 junior had 24 rebounds, nearly matching South Carolina's total of 26 and missing her career high by only two. But she went just 4-of-14 from the field and didn't reach the 10-point mark until a bucket from underneath with 3:57 left. The home crowd roared when Paris secured her 72nd straight double-double.
Oklahoma had a 58-26 rebounding edge over South Carolina, which has not beaten a ranked team since December 2005.
Paris shot 2-for-11 from the field in the first half, but matched her career high for rebounds in a half with 14 as the Sooners led 45-29 at halftime and held a 34-14 rebounding edge.
Paris didn't score until 12 minutes into the game, even having a couple of shots blocked by South Carolina's towering frontline of 6-foot-6 Ilona Burgrova and 6-foot-4 Demetress Adams. But the way Paris' teammates were shooting, it didn't matter.
Taking advantage of openings created by South Carolina's defense against Paris, four Sooners had eight points or more in the half, led by Ashley Paris, who had 10 on 5-of-5 shooting. Oklahoma never trailed and had a double-digit lead by midway through the half.
South Carolina pulled within 13 in the opening moments of the second half, but the Sooners responded with a 19-2 run to build their lead to 64-34.
A 16-0 run by the Gamecocks cut the gap to 68-53 with 10 minutes left, but Oklahoma scored 11 of the next 13 points to rebuild its lead.
FANTASTIC FOUR MINUTES
Oklahoma walked away from East Lansing, Mich., with a victory thanks in large part to how it opened the second half. It's been a trend of Sherri Coale-coached teams to come out from the locker room much more intense than their opponents.
Considering that a four-minute interval is 10 percent of a game, during the first four-minute interval following halftime...
• Oklahoma holds a statistical advantage over its opponent in all categories except free throw percentage.
• Oklahoma is scoring 13 percent of its points. Opponents are scoring 11 percent.
• Oklahoma's assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.8, almost twice as positive as its season average of .927.
• 66 percent of Oklahoma's field goals are assisted compared to just 52 percent for the rest of the game.
• OU is making 26 percent more shots than its opponent during this span, but only 13 percent more during the rest of the game.
• Oklahoma blocks 19 percent of its shots while opponents tally seven percent. In raw numbers, OU has 11 blocks while opponents have just three.
• Oklahoma counts 13 percent of its steals while opponents count 10 percent.
• The Sooners are shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (5-of-10) while opponents shoot 36 percent (4-of-11) during the span.
• Oklahoma is outrebounding opponents during this span 44 to 31.
D-ROB, MOST VAUABLE FRESHMAN
Oklahoma's Danielle Robinson is the only freshman on Top 25 program to lead her team in assists and steals.
Robinson broke out in OU's win against Illinois, scoring eight of her 14 points during a 16-3 run in the second half, lifting the Sooners to a 70-57 lead with 3:36 remaining. Robinson also had back-to-back steals for layups in the stretch. The Sooners won, 77-67, as Robinson recorded a career high seven steals.
Of her 134 points scored this season, 44 (33 percent) have come by way of the fast break, including 10 of her 18 against Arizona State, six of 12 at Michigan State and eight of 20 versus South Carolina.
The following is a look at the production of some of the nation's top freshmen guards.
| Production by the Nation's Top Freshmen | |||||
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Player |
Team |
GP |
Points |
Assists |
Steals |
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Angie Bjorklund |
Tennessee |
13 |
10.7 |
1.5 |
1.4 |
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Sydney Colson |
Texas A&M |
14 |
4.4 |
2.1 |
1.9 |
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Cetera DeGraffenreid |
North Carolina |
15 |
12.1 |
3.9 |
2.7 |
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Maya Moore |
Connecticut |
13 |
15.5 |
3.7 |
1.8 |
| Angela Puleo | Georgia |
13 |
8.8 |
3.2 |
1.2 |
| Danielle Robinson | Oklahoma |
11 |
12.2 |
4.5 |
2.5 |
| Alli Smalley | Auburn |
15 |
11.0 |
2.5 |
1.4 |
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Marah Strickland |
Maryland |
19 |
8.9 |
1.1 |
0.6 |
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP FOR STEVENSON
Nyeshia Stevenson may not be starting, but she is one of the Sooners most important contributors.
After shooting 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from beyond the arc all last season, Stevenson is the Big 12 Conference leader in 3-point field goal percentage at 50 percent (13-of-26).
Stevenson broke out with a 4-for-4 3-point effort to spark the Sooners in a victory against Mississippi State and hasn't looked back since.
The Little Rock, Ark., native averages 8.7 points per game, fourth best on the team and best by a reserve. She has the OU's leading off-the-bench scorer in eight of 11 games.
NO. 3's COMPANY
Since she first put on a Sooner jersey, it has been rare when Courtney Paris was not Oklahoma's leading scorer after a game. But that scenario is becoming more common as the talent around her and the double- and triple-teaming defenses increase.
Danielle Robinson's 20 points against South Carolina (Dec. 30) marked the fourth consecutive game in which a different Sooner was the team leader in points scored (Courtney Paris, 17 at Tulsa; Amanda Thompson, 14 at Michigan State; and Jenny Vining, 20 vs. Central Arkansas). This came after Ashley and Courtney Paris spent the first eight games of the season splitting games as the team's leading scorer with Ashley getting the honor three times and Courtney five.
Until this season, Courtney never missed two games without being her team's leading scorer until Ashley posted the high number in OU's two games in Cancun against Arizona State and Mississippi State.
Last season, Courtney Paris was OU's leading scorer in all but five games. Jenna Plumley, Leah Rush and Chelsi Welch were the others that scored. During her freshman season, C. Paris led in all but five games with Rush, Welch and Erin Higgins also getting leading scoring honors during the year.
The last time four different Sooners were the leading point scorers in consecutive games was during the 2003-04 season when it happened in games 3 through 6. The last time there were five different leading scorers was also in the same season in games 2 through 6.
CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARD
As a freshman, Courtney Paris set the NCAA single-season record with 539 rebounds and neared the mark as a sophomore with 526.
As a junior, Paris is averaging 16.3 boards, better than her 15.0 rate as a freshman.
Paris has owned OU's offensive rebounds record since last season and took over as the No. 1 total rebounder in the Sooners' season opener. She passed Caton Hill for No. 1 on OU's defensive rebounding list with seven defensive boards versus Mississippi State (Nov. 27).
Paris currently has 1,244 career rebounds with 420 coming off the offensive glass and 824 defensively.
Baylor's Sophia Young (2002-06) currently holds the Big 12 Conference record for total rebounds with 1,316. Young also owns the career offensive rebounds (489) and defensive rebounds (827) records.
No other Sooner in history has recorded 400 or more total rebounds in a single season.
A PERFECT '10'
Courtney Paris' 10 points against South Carolina (Dec. 30) was a career low, meaning she has never scored outside of double figures in her career. Only two other NCAA Division I players - LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State (1998-2002) and Chandi Jones, Houston (2000-04) - have finished their careers scoring in double figures in every game.
The most double-figure scoring games was accomplished by Sophia Young of Baylor (2003-06), who scored 10 or more points in 130 of her 139 career games.
Paris' 10 points were 10.5 percent of OU's total 95 against South Carolina, marking her lowest percent contribution since her career began. However, Paris did manage to grasp 24 rebounds, two from her personal best and the second most in a single game by a Division I player this season.
Paris' second lowest percentage contribution came one game before against Central Arkansas, when she provided 14 of the team's program record 121. Paris played only 22 minutes in the game.
Most Consecutive Double-Figure Scoring Games
125, LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State (1998-2002, 125 games)
Most Double-Figure Scoring Games
130, Sophia Young, Baylor (2003-06, 139 games)
Scored in Double Figures Every Game of Career
*130, Denise Curry, UCLA (1977-81)
125, LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State (1998-2002)
114, Chandi Jones, Houston (2000-04)
*Pre-NCAA record.
FRESHMAN FACTS
After losing six seniors, the OU women's basketball team should be expected to look and play much differently this season than past Sherri Coale-coached teams have played. However, while these freshmen are very talented and will make their names known quickly, they do draw comparisons to some familiar faces.
Danielle Robinson | 5-9 | G | San Jose, Calif.
Robinson was the Sooners' surprise pickup of the 2007 recruiting class. After acknowledging OU was off her radar until her official visit, Robinson made the decision to be a Sooner before she checked her bags for the return flight home. The speedy guard will see time both on and off the point and draws comparisons to Dionnah Jackson.
Carlee Roethlisberger | 6-1 | F | Findlay, Ohio
Having the third most recognizable surname speaks to the star power on the Sooners' roster. Yes, Carlee is the sister of Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback Ben, but she may the family's best athlete. Roethlisberger is leanest Sooner and the one with the greatest ceiling in terms of untapped basketball potential. Her play resembles another lean forward in former Sooner Leah Rush.
Jenny Vining | 5-9 | G | Marshall, Ark.
This Arkansas high school star will remind fans of former Sooner Erin Higgins because of her 3-point range and accuracy, although Vining's may prove to be better in both cases. Head coach Sherri Coale says that Vining might be the best freshman she has ever coached because of her ability to quickly learn from mistakes and make correct adjustments in practice.
Lauren Willis | 5-11 | G | Overland Park, Kan.
Willis was an all-stater in Kansas and walked-on to the OU program. She has been a stellar defender in practice as was quite the spark in OU's preseason intrasquad scrimmage as she went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in limited action. Willis is the daughter of Steve Willis, a placekicker on Kansas State football's first ever bowl team, and the former Lois Groen, an All-American and Big Eight Conference track and field champion at Iowa State.
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SOONERS PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN BIG 12 Texas A&M, the 2006-07 Big 12 co-champions with Oklahoma, received seven of 12 first-place votes to edge the Sooners, who received five first-place votes, in a split decision between the two teams. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own team. PARIS PRESEASON BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR The 6-4 center, who averaged 23.5 points and 15.9 rebounds, was last season's Big 12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Sooners to title defenses of the conference's regular season and tournament championships. Ashley Paris was an honorable mention for the All-Big 12 team. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SOONERSPORTS.COM BLOG
Courtney has braces? Find out what prompted her sudden dental work by reading the OU Women's Basketball Blog on SoonerSports.com.
OU head coach Sherri Coale submits regular postings and this season several OU players will enter the cyberspace realm with their own unique contributions.
Jennie Baranczyk, Payton Verhulst, and Raegan Beers Postgame vs South Carolina
Saturday, March 28
Jennie Baranczyk, Sahara Williams, Aaliyah Chavez, and Raegan Beers Media Availability - 3/27/26
Friday, March 27
WBB Highlights: OU 77, Michigan State 71
Sunday, March 22
Jennie Baranczyk, Raegan Beers, and Payton Verhulst Postgame vs Michigan State
Sunday, March 22
