Coale Pleased with Team's Effort

Nov. 7, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma women's basketball team returned to practice Friday, following Thursday night's, 132-36, exhibition rout of Western State College of Colorado.

OU head coach Sherri Coale repeated her statements from a night before, saying the overall intensity and focus from the team was good but there is still much improvement to make.

"We watched film for a bit and watched the good stuff we did and watched the great effort plays we did because there were many of them," Coale said. "But, then we also showed them how much room there was for improvement.

"We picked things apart pretty well, came back out to the floor and wanted to get a lot of shots up today and play with great intensity. And I think we did that. For the day following an exhibition game...they were pretty good about getting back to business and working hard."

The intensity showed during the runaway victory was missing at points during last season. Coale believes a year of growth will keep this year's team guarded against such a pitfall.

"You go from having a team of a majority of freshmen and sophomores with only a few juniors and no seniors to having your team the majority sophomore and juniors with three seniors anchoring that. So, I think we've just grown up as a group."

Junior co-captain Amanda Thompson was particularly impressive during the exhibition, filling the box score with 18 points, seven rebounds, six steals and four assists in 19 minutes without counting a turnover. Coale said Thompson's leadership is a catalyst for the entire team's success.

"Today (in practice) was a perfect example. She was real edgy, coming out. You wouldn't have thought we'd had a great performance the night before. She was leading the sprint from drill to drill, getting from spot to spot, reminding people of the emphasis and just having an edge about her."

The exhibition game also marked the debut of freshmen guards Whitney Hand and Jasmine Hartman.

"I was thrilled with both of them," Coale said. "Whitney was obviously everything she's been hyped to be and was good on both sides of the ball. Defensively, she got so many touches and was involved in five-second counts and got some steals and fast-break layups -- aside from doing the thing everybody's been waiting for her to do, which is make shots. She did that beautifully.

"I was pleased with Jasmine, too. I thought it was a great opportunity for us to get her some experience and teach her. She played 23 minutes and made some great finds in transition, made a couple of nice baskets, defended with great intensity. She has a lot to learn yet, but I think everyone can see she sure has a chance to be special."

Oklahoma returns to the spotlight for its exhibition finale Tuesday, Nov. 11, against a familiar foe in Oklahoma Christian. Coale and OU assistant Jan Ross are OC alumni and members of its athletics hall of fame. The Sooners defeated the Lady Eagles 110-51 in an exhibition game last season.

"We'll really use this exhibition game as an opportunity to try and make one another better. I appreciate (Oklahoma Christian head coach Stephanie Findley) for that. We'll just try to do more of what we did this past game -- more intensity, more passing, more made shots, fewer turnovers. Gearing up as we look forward to the WNIT, it's important to have a clean performance."

Tuesday night's exhibition game at the Lloyd Noble Center tips off at 7 p.m.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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