Women's Hoops Big Apple Bound

Dec. 7, 2009


	Lauren Willis

No. 16 Oklahoma (6-2) vs. Marist (4-3)
Date & Tip Time	Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 6:30 p.m. CT
Location	Poughkeepsie, N.Y. \| McCann Center (3,200)
TV	Time Warner Cable Channel 6 in NYC
Radio	Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City
Webcast	Marist CBS College Sports All-Access
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com GameTracker
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

GAME PREVIEW
No. 16 Oklahoma travels to The Empire State, visiting Marist in Poughkeepsie on Wednesday night and then Army at West Point Thursday.
• The game will be televised in the New York area on Time Warner Cable Channel 6.
• The OU radio broadcast of Brian Brinkley and Kendra Wecker can be heard over the air on KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City and online at SoonerSports.com through CBS College Sports All-Access.
• A webcast is available via CBS College Sports All-Access. A single-game subscription can be purchased at GoRedFoxes.com.

Marist Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
22	Kristine Best	G	5-4	So.	3.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg
24	Corielle Yarde	G	5-8	So.	10.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 91.3 FT%
30	Erica Allenspach	G	5-8	Jr.	12.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 37.0 3FG%
12	Rachele Fitz	F	6-0	Sr.	21.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 63.4 FG%
31	Lynzee Johnson	F	5-10	Sr.	6.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg

Oklahoma Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
13	Danielle Robinson	G	5-9	Jr.	17.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 6.0 apg
1	Nyeshia Stevenson	G	5-10	Sr.	11.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.4 apg
10	Carlee Roethlisberger	F	6-1	So.	9.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 41.7 3FG%
21	Amanda Thompson	F	6-1	Sr.	12.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 2.5 steals
34	Abi Olajuwon	C	6-3	Sr.	12.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.6 blocks

ABOUT THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma is ranked No. 16 by the Associated Press and No. 18 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll.
• Marist is not ranked.
• Oklahoma is 6-2 after rallying to defeat Arkansas, 87-86, in overtime following a 16-point deficit with 13:30 remaining in the second half.
• Marist is 4-3 having dropped its last game to undefeated St. Bonaventure.

The Series
• Marist and Oklahoma meet for the third time Wednesday, Dec. 9. The Sooners hold the series advantage at 2-0. OU and Marist last met in Norman on Nov. 26 last year, an 83-57 win for the Sooners. The teams are meeting for the first time in Poughkeepsie.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 291-134 (.684) in her 14th season at Oklahoma. She has been the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• Marist head coach Brian Giorgis is 172-57 (.751) in his eighth season. He has been the MAAC Coach of the Year four times.

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners were picked by the league's coaches to finish fifth in the strong Big 12 Conference this season.

The Sooners enter 2009-10 following one of its best seasons in history. Oklahoma notched a program record 32 wins, won its sixth Big 12 regular season title and made its second trip to the Final Four. OU returns eight letterwinners from the squad, including three starters. PreseasonAll-American Danielle Robinson and senior co-captain Amanda Thompson will lead the charge.

Sooner to Watch
	Amanda Thompson \| Jr. \| Forward Amanda Thompson is the Big 12's leading rebounder, averaging 10.0. The senior posted OU's first double-double of the season with her 16-point, 14-rebound performance versus Arkansas. She had six of OU's eight overtime points and looks to follow up against a starting lineup in Marist that plays no one taller than six feet.

PREVIEWING MARIST
Marist, 4-3 this season, is led by Rachele Fitz, who leads the MAAC in scoring with 21.7 points per game and holds a 63.4 field goal percentage that is among the best in the nation.

Fitz has scored in double figures in 72 of her last 75 games and is just four points from becoming the first Marist player to score 2,000 career points.

Marist takes pride in its home court advantage. The Red Foxes are 41-4 at home over the past five seasons and have won 12 of their last 14 against non-conference opponents.

Head coach Brian Giorgis is a huge Sooner football fan and received a Bob Stoops' autographed football as a gift from Sherri Coale during his visit to Norman last season.

COALE'S 300th WIN APPROACHING
Sherri Coale will be aiming for her 292nd coaching win when OU meets Marist, Wednesday, Dec. 9, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Coale's first win came in her first game as OU's head coach, a 62-50 victory over Oral Roberts on Nov. 22, 1996.

The 100th win came 170 games later on Feb. 5, 2002, a 69-60 win over then-No. 10 Baylor at Norman.

Win No. 200 came 141 games later on March 8, 2006, a 78-74 win over Iowa State in the first round of the Big 12 Championship.

LIGHTING IT UP
Robinson Nearing 1,000 Career Points
Danielle Robinson has 994 career points, six shy of becoming the Sooners' 23rd player to score 1,000 or more career points. If she achieves the mark Wednesday, Dec. 9, against Marist she will do so in 77 career games. Only six Sooners have reached 1,000 career points in fewer games.

Courtney Paris achieved 1,000 career points in 46 career games and no other player since the year 2000 achieved the mark quicker than her.

The NCAA record is 37 games held by three players (Maree Jackson, LSU; Carol Menken, Oregon State; and Sandra Hodge, New Orleans)

Career Week
Oklahoma's Danielle Robinson and Carlee Roethlisberger reset career single-game bests in scoring last week.

Robinson totaled 31 in an overtime thriller against Arkansas and Roethlisberger made five 3-pointers en route to 29 points in a rout of UT-Arlington.

Scoring Efficiency
Danielle Robinson leads the Sooners with 17.1 points per game, but it is senior center Abi Olajuwon who is the team's most efficient scorer.

Olajuwon's rate is 0.61 points per minute played, just higher than Robinson's 0.54.

Two for Twenty
Oklahoma's Carlee Roethlisberger (29 points) and Nyeshia Stevenson (21) each had season highs in Wednesday's win over UT-Arlington.

It was the first game in which at least two Sooners each scored 20 or more points since Courtney Paris scored 24 and Ashley Paris scored 20 against Arkansas State on Dec. 7, 2008.

Running and Gunning
Oklahoma's fast-paced offense can score points in a flurry. In eight games this season, OU has achieved nine double-digit scoring runs.

Conversely, opponents have only two runs of 10 or more points against Oklahoma. Notre Dame managed a 20-0 run in the second half of its game with OU and Arkanas had a 10-0 run in the first half of its matchup.

ON THE DEFENSIVE
Big 12's Rebounding Leader
Amanda Thompson is the Big 12's leading rebounder, averaging 10.0. With 12.0 points per game, Thompson averages a double-double despite having just one in a game this season.

Block Party
Amanda Thompson is the only Sooner in history under 6-foot-2 to have 30 or more blocks in a season -- a feat she has achieved twice. Through eight games in her senior season, she already has 13, putting her on pace to reach 50 this year.

Amanda Thompson had 21 blocks as a freshman, 34 as a sophomore and 31 as a junior.

Willis Winding the Clock
Junior guard Lauren Willis, a former walk-on who earned a scholarship in the middle of last season, has played more minutes this season (93 in eight games) than in the previous two combined (77 in 22 games).

Willis has served as a spark off the bench, helping replacing the injured Whitney Hand with crucial defensive plays and a 37.5 3-point field goal percentage.

Empire State of Mind
Oklahoma meets Marist in Poughkeepsie for the first time and Army for the first time ever this week.

It is Oklahoma's only trip to the state New York aside from Sherri Coale's first season as head coach.

In 1996, the Sooners played two games at the St. John's Red Storm Christmas Invitational in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens in New York City, losing to Memphis, 71-65, and beating Northeastern, 76-54.

NEXT UP
Oklahoma meets Army at West Point, N.Y., on Dec. 10 in the first meeting between the two teams.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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