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
OU Opens Tourney with Mizzou
March 10, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 10, 2008
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The game will be televised in Oklahoma City on Cox Cable channel 7. Erin Bajackson will call the play-by-play and Brenda Van Lengen will provide color analysis.
No. 5 seed Oklahoma starts Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. against No. 12 seed Missouri. Listen on the radio as Brian Brinkley and Tara Pogue have the call for the Sooner Sports Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City).
PREVIEWING THE BIG 12 TOURNAMENT
For Oklahoma to be the Big 12 Tournament Champions for a third straight season, OU will have to match the feat it accomplished in 2004 when it won four games in five days en route to its second Big 12 Tournament title.
No. 5-seed Oklahoma opens with No. 12-seed Missouri at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 11, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The winner advances to face No. 4-seed Texas A&M Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
Oklahoma and Missouri faced each other just once in the Big 12 Tournament, a 75-54 Sooner victory in the semifinal round during the 2006 season.
Oklahoma's advantage stems from two-time Big 12 Player of the Year Courtney Paris enforcing the paint. Paris averages 18.3 points and 14.9 rebounds. She is the nation's leader in rebounding average and is fourth nationally in blocks per game.
OU freshman guard Danielle Robinson was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection and named to the conference's all-rookie and all-defensive teams.
Ashley Paris was an honorable mention All-Big 12 performer.
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BIG 12 TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Oklahoma has won more Big 12 Tournament games that any other program in the conference. With 17 wins and seven losses, OU's 71 percent winning percentage is also tops in the league's 12-year postseason tournament history.
Only Iowa State, with an 18-9 overall record, has played in more Big 12 Tournament games than the Sooners.
The Sooners have an even or winning record against all its opponents in the Big 12 Tournament, including a 3-0 mark versus Baylor, 2-0 advantage over Texas A&M, and one win versus Missouri is the two teams' only postseason meeting.
All-time in the Big 12 Tournament, OU is 3-3 in the first round, 5-3 in the second round, 5-0 in the semifinal round and 4-1 in the championship game.
QUICK HITS
• Oklahoma is 56-67 (.456) all-time against ranked opponents, including a 5-6 mark this season. OU is 50-39 (.562) all-time when ranked and facing another ranked team. OU is 0-8 all-time versus No. 1.
• OU's losses to Baylor this season are the only times the Sooners were defeated when both Paris twins posted double-doubles. OU is 8-2 in that situation.
• Oklahoma is undefeated (20-0) when shooting better its opponent or attaining a lead of eight points or more. OU's win against Kansas State was its only this season when not gaining an eight-point lead at anytime during the contest.
• OU has won 24 straight games versus Big 12 North teams.
VOTE PARIS FOR NAISMITH
Fans can help Courtney Paris win the Naismith Trophy as 25 percent of the selection process for the award comes from a fan vote.
The Naismith Trophy, presented by the Atlanta Tip-off Club, recognizes the women's college basketball national player of the year. Paris was a finalist as a freshman and sophomore.
To register, text "VOTE" to 87654. Registration ends March 22.
Once received, you will be sent a message confirming your registration and, on March 23, will be sent the ballot to vote on Men's National Player of the Year, Women's National Player of the Year, Men's Coach of the Year, and Women's Coach of the Year. Standard text messaging rates apply.
PARIS MAKING HER CASE FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Courtney Paris, the 2007 AP National Player of the Year and preseason pick for Big 12 Player of the Year, is the only player to in more than three of the eight major statistical categories in which the NCAA ranks individual players (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage). Paris, who is ranked in four categories, is the nation's leading rebounder, No. 4 in blocks per game, No. 28 in field goal percentage and No. 33 in points per game.
PARIS PASSES 2,000
With her sixth point against Oklahoma State, Sunday, Feb. 23, Courtney Paris reached 2,000 career points quicker than any player in Big 12 or Oklahoma history. Paris was playing her 94th game. Paris finished the game with 18 points to boost her career total to 2,012.
PARIS' 32nd BIG 12 RECORD
If passing 2,000 career points faster than any other player in Big 12 history wasn't enough, Courtney Paris literally grabbed her second Big 12 record in the game against Oklahoma State (Feb. 23). Paris grabbed a career high 11 offensive boards to overtake Baylor's Sophia Young (489, 2003-06) as the Big 12 career offensive rebounds leader.
THIRD CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASON
Oklahoma captured its third consecutive 20-win season and 13th in the program's history with its win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 23.
BEDLAM SETS ATTENDANCE RECORD
The Bedlam rematch between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on Feb. 23 set a Lloyd Noble Center women's basketball attendance record of 12,205. The game, which sold out 30 days in advance, was the second consecutive game in Norman to set an attendance record.
TWICE AS NICE
The Paris twins have scored in double figures in the same game on 33 occasions, achieving the feat 18 times in 2007-08 after doing so 11 times last season. Since Courtney has scored in double figures in all of her 95 career games, the 33 occasions account for every double-figure game of Ashley's career. The duo has posted a double-double in the same game 10 times (four as freshman and two as sophomores). OU is 29-4 when both Parises reach double figure scoring and 8-2 when both achieve a double-double.
ASHLEY PARIS NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Ashley Paris, a journalism major, was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 6 First Team this week. She will now be eligible for Academic All-America consideration. To qualify, canididates must have a 3.20 cumulative GPA or better and at least one year of academic residency.
Read more...
KAY YOW/WBCA CANCER FUND AUCTION
Oklahoma fans raised $8,041 for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund through an online auction on SoonerSports.com. Bids were made on several items used in the Sooners' "Pack the Place Pink Night" against Georgia to promote the WBCA's "Think Pink" Week.
• 12 Pink Warm-up T-shirts raised $2,591, or $216 per shirt.
• The official game ball raised $2,550.
• Coach Coale's signed Jimmy Choo's stiletto heels raised $2,600.
COALE'S 250th VICTORY
Sherri Coale earned her 250th victory in her 12th year as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners defeated Texas A&M, 68-56, on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for the milestone win. Coale's is OU's all-time leader in coaching victories and winning percentage.
1,000th GAME IN SOONER HISTORY
Oklahoma started its women's basketball program for the 1974-75 season and is approaching its 1,000th game. To date, the Sooners are four games shy of 1,000 in program history. Should the Sooners make the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game, that will be the 1,000th game in program history. OU's all-time record is 576-418 (.579).
TOUGH FINISH
Oklahoma opened the season with the toughest schedule in the nation as its first three games -- Maryland, Tennessee and Arizona State -- featured Top 25 ranked opponents.
Starting with Texas A&M, the seven-game end to the Sooners' regular season features five opponents ranked in the Top 20 of both the media and coaches' polls.
ROBINSON ON PACE FOR 400
OU freshman guard Danielle Robinson, who currently has scored 355 points, is on pace to pass the 400-point scoring benchmark.
Only four other Sooners have achieved the feat in their freshman season. They include the program's No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 9 all-time scorers.
Should Robinson reach 400, she will be just the second guard in OU history (LaNeisha Caufield) to do so her freshman season.
COALE "MOST FUN TO WATCH"
OU head coach Sherri Coale was recently voted by members of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) as the "Most Fun to Watch" head coach in the nation
RECAPPING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M's Danielle Gant celebrated her 21st birthday by scoring 21 points and leading No. 17 Texas A&M to its sixth straight win.
Gant also had 12 rebounds to lead the Aggies to a 73-59 victory over 11th-ranked Oklahoma on Thursday night, their third win in a row over a Top 25 team.
Texas A&M (23-7, 11-5 Big 12) finished the regular season with wins in 10 of its last 11 games after starting conference play 1-4. With the win, the Aggies clinched the fourth seed in the upcoming Big 12 tournament and a first-round bye.
Oklahoma is the fifth seed and must play in the first round.
The Aggies led this one from start to finish and maintained a double-digit lead through most of the game.
Texas A&M had a seven point lead at halftime and opened the second half with a 12-3 run to take a 45-29 lead with about 16 minutes left. Gant had two straight jump shots to cap that run.
The Aggies put the game completely out of reach with a 17-7 run after that to stretch the lead to 62-36 with about five minutes left.
Oklahoma (21-7, 11-5) didn't score a basket for an almost 7 1/2 minute span in the second half. The drought stretched from 13:01 until Jenna Plumley's jump shot with 5:32 left.
The Sooners finished the game with a 23-11 run, but their deficit was too much to overcome.
The Aggies beat No. 8 Baylor 72-53 on Saturday and got a 63-57 win over then-No. 17 Oklahoma State two games ago. Their last loss came in a 68-56 defeat at Oklahoma on Feb. 12.
D-ROB, MOST VAUABLE FRESHMAN
Oklahoma's Danielle Robinson is one of only two freshmen (the other is UNC's Cetera DeGraffenreid) on a 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 355 points scored this season, 88 (25 percent) have come by way of the fast break, including 10 of her 18 against Arizona State, six of 12 at Michigan State, eight of 20 versus South Carolina, six of 16 against Baylor and six of 12 versus Georgia and Kansas State.
The following is a look at the production of the nation's top freshmen guards (through Saturday, March 8).
| Production by the Nation's Top Freshmen | |||||
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Player |
Team |
GP |
Points |
Assists |
Steals |
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Angie Bjorklund |
Tennessee |
31 |
9.3 |
1.5 |
0.9 |
|
Cetera DeGraffenreid |
North Carolina |
30 |
11.8 |
3.3 |
2.4 |
|
Maya Moore |
Connecticut |
30 |
18.4 |
3.2 |
1.6 |
| Angela Puleo | Georgia |
31 |
8.4 |
2.6 |
1.0 |
| Danielle Robinson | Oklahoma |
28 |
12.7 |
4.3 |
2.3 |
| Alli Smalley | Auburn |
31 |
10.7 |
2.8 |
1.2 |
|
Marah Strickland |
Maryland |
32 |
9.0 |
0.9 |
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 eighth in the Big 12 Conference in 3-point field goal percentage at 34 percent (26-of-76) and has made at least two 3s in nine games this season.
Stevenson broke out with a 4-for-4 3-point effort to spark the Sooners in a victory against Mississippi State.
The Little Rock, Ark., native averages 7.4 points per game, fifth best on the team and most by a reserve. After starting the season opener, she has the OU's leading off-the-bench scorer in 20 of her 26 games as a reserve. Against Kansas, Stevenson led OU in scoring for the first time in her career with 15 points. She had a Big 12 high of 16 against Colorado.
BLOCK PARTY
Courtney Paris passed LaNae Jones (1993-96) as OU's blocks leader versus North Texas (Nov. 26). Paris entered the contest two blocks from Jones' record of 243 and counted five in the game to move past to 246.
Paris, who has OU's single-season record with 119 blocks as a freshman (and is No. 2 on the single-season list with 111 blocks as a sophomore) currently has 324 career blocks. She and Jones are the only two Sooners ever to record 100 blocks.
Paris passed Texas Tech's Cisti Greenwalt's (121 games, 2002-05) Big 12 career record of 300 blocks against Texas A&M on Feb. 12.
With a rate of 3.3 blocks per game and at least 30 games left in her career, Paris could break 400 career blocks by the time she leaves the college game.
TCU's Sandra Irvin (2002-05) has the NCAA record for career blocks with 480 in 127 games (3.78 per game).
CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARD
It wasn't enough for Courtney Paris to break one Big 12 Conference record in OU's rematch against Oklahoma State, the All-American broke two.
Paris reached the 2,000-point plateau in the game, her 94th, doing so quicker than any other player in Big 12 or Oklahoma history.
Paris also passed Baylor's Sophia Young as the Big 12's career offensive rebounds leader. Young had 489 in 139 games between 2003-06.
Paris has owned OU's offensive rebounds record since last season and took over as the No. 1 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 1,483 career rebounds with 517 coming off the offensive glass and 966 defensively.
Against Georgia (Jan. 27) Paris passed Baylor's Sophia Young (1,316 during 2002-06) for the Big 12 Conference record for total rebounds.
Paris claimed Young's Big 12 career record for defensive rebounds (827) with 10 in the game at Iowa State on Jan. 9.
No other Sooner in history has recorded 400 or more total rebounds in a single season. Paris has done so three times.
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.
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
