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Sooners Name Captains
Oklahoma picked its captains for the season during a team meeting earlier this week. Junior Amanda Thompson and senior Carolyn Winchester received the most votes.

Said Coale: “The team voted on the captains -- Amanda Thompson and Carolyn Winchester. I think both of them take the role very seriously and will do a great job for us.

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Oct. 17, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma women's basketball team completed its first official practice of the 2008-09 season Friday evening.

The Sooners hit the main floor of the Lloyd Noble Center for just under two hours. The energy and intensity was high from start to finish as the team paced rapidly through several drills in its initial workout.

“I was pleased. I was really pleased,” OU head coach Sherri Coale said. “It had high energy, a lot of attention to detail, focus was good, saw some leadership.

“I think we got better. I think we were better (today) than we were on the last day of last year.”

Oklahoma, the Big 12 coaches' preseason pick for No. 1, returns four starters and 11 total players from last year's team, including three-time consensus All-American Courtney Paris and Big 12 Freshman of the Year Danielle Robinson.

Paris, the two-time reigning and this year's preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, was present at her final first practice with sister Ashley and fellow senior Carolyn Winchester.

According to Coale, having three seniors supplied a sense of urgency throughout summer workouts and Friday's practice.

“I think it mounts throughout the year. But, I think there's an edge that just can't hide whether they even it realize they have it or they're trying to keep it at bay, it just sort of seeps out. I think, sometimes, it's more apparent in the guys around them than it is them.

“Those other guys realize that it's (the seniors) last shot and they want to do everything they can, particularly with this group. These younger guys want to make sure these seniors go out the right way and have the experience they deserve.”

Oklahoma also introduced two highly-touted freshmen guards from the state of Texas, Whitney Hand and Jasmine Hartman. Coale, now in her 13th year at OU, said Hand may be the most prepared freshman she has coached and complimented the youngster's mental toughness following the practice.

“She's a kid that's really perfectionistic in nature; she wants to do everything right,” Coale said of Hand. “But she can call herself back to whatever's happening at any given time and sort of remove herself. It's a high-level skill not a lot of young people have -- to be able to remove themselves, detach for a little bit and then get on to the next thing.”

“Also, physically, she's just big and strong enough to take the rigors of the game at this level. Lots of freshmen are not developed enough, physically, to do that.”

Hand was named the Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year on Wednesday.

The Sooners return to the court Saturday morning for their second practice.

Season Begins Soon
Oklahoma's regular season begins with its 1,000th game in program history when it hosts UC-Riverside in the first round of the Preseason WNIT on Nov. 15 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Sooners precede that with two exhibition games, Nov. 6 versus Western State College of Colorado and Nov. 11 against Oklahoma Christian. Both games tip at 7 p.m.

The OU women will also hold an exclusive scrimmage for season-ticket holders and members of its Fast Break Club on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets should call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-GoOU or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU. Tickets may also be purchased online by visiting the ticket office link on SoonerSports.com.

For Fast Break Club information, call the OU women's basketball office at (405) 325-8322.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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