Back in Action Thursday at Army

Dec. 10, 2009


	Nyeshia Stevenson

No. 16 Oklahoma (7-2) vs. Army(5-4)
Date & Tip Time	Thursday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. CT
Location	West Point, N.Y. \| Christl Arena
Radio	Sooner Radio Network KOKC AM 1520 in Oklahoma City
Webcast (Pay)	GoArmySports.com
Live Stats	GoArmySports.com
Live Blog	SoonerSports.com
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

GAME PREVIEW
No. 16 Oklahoma visits Army at West Point, N.Y., Thursday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Central.

• 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.
• Live stats and a pay-access webcast are available at GoArmySports.com.

Army Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
3	Nalini Hawkins	G	5-3	Jr.	9.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg
4	Kait Goodall	F	5-10	So.	4.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg
10	Jessie Coiffard	G	5-6	Jr.	7.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg
32	Erin Anthony	F	6-2	Jr.	16.4 ppg, 10.0 rpg
40	Laura Baranek	G/F	5-9	Jr.	8.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg

Oklahoma Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2009-10 Statistics
13	Danielle Robinson	G	5-9	Jr.	16.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.9 apg
1	Nyeshia Stevenson	G	5-10	Sr.	13.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.6 apg
10	Carlee Roethlisberger	F	6-1	So.	9.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 37.8 3FG%
21	Amanda Thompson	F	6-1	Sr.	11.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 2.4 steals
34	Abi Olajuwon	C	6-3	Sr.	12.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 55.6 FG%

ABOUT THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma is ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' polls.
• Army 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.
• Army is 5-4 after losing to Manhattan, 65-52, Tuesday, Dec. 8. It was the Black Knights' first home loss of the season.

The Series
• Army and Oklahoma are meeting for the first time. It is also Oklahoma's fourth game ever in the state of New York.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 292-134 (.685) in her 14th season at Oklahoma. She has been the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• Army head coach Dave Magarity is 68-32 (.680) in his fourth season. Magarity spent 23 years coaching men's basketball at St. Francis (Pa.) and Marist.

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
	Nyeshia Stevenson \| Sr. \| Forward/Guard Who else? Nyeshia Stevenson scored a career-high 32 points and made an OU record nine 3-pointers -- including the game-tying 3 in regulation and the go-ahead and game winners in overtime -- Wednesday at Marist. Stevenson is scoring 22 points per game and shooting over 45 percent over the past three contests.

LEFTOVERS FROM MARIST
• Oklahoma played its second straight overtime game. The only other time the Sooners had consecutive overtime games was Dec. 21 and Dec. 27, 2000, when Oklahoma won, 65-63, in double overtime at San Diego and won, 102-98, in one overtime at home versus Stanford.

• Danielle Robinson became Oklahoma's 23rd player to score 1,000 career points. Robinson was six shy of the mark entering her 77th career game and scored nine. Only seven Sooners have reached 1,000 career points in fewer games.

• Robinson also recorded her 400th career assist with her fifth and final one Wednesday versus Marist. Robinson is fourth on OU's career assist list and trails Sharee Mitchum (1992-95), who had 601, for third place.

• Nyeshia Stevenson scored a career-high 32 points. Stevenson made nine 3-pointers, tying an OU record. Carin Stites also made nine 3-pointers in a single game twice (vs. Arkansas, Nov. 27, 1990; and vs. UT-San Antonio, Jan. 21, 1991).
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• Oklahoma's 13 3-pointers made were its most this season. OU's 36 attempts set a school record.

COALE'S 300th WIN APPROACHING
Sherri Coale will be aiming for her 293rd coaching win when OU meets Army, Thursday, Dec. 10, in West Point, 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 OU's 23rd 1,000-Point Scorer
Danielle Robinson scored nine points to become Oklahoma's 23rd player to reach 1,000 in a career. She entered Wednesday's game with Marist six shy of the mark and now has 1,003 career points.

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, Carlee Roethlisberger and Nyeshia Stevenson reset career single-game bests in scoring in the past seven days.

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. Wednesday night at Marist, Stevenson made nine 3-pointers and totaled 32 points.

Scoring Efficiency
Danielle Robinson leads the Sooners with 16.1 points per game, but it is senior center Abi Olajuwon who is the team's most efficient scorer.

Olajuwon's rate is 0.6 points per minute played, just higher than Robinson's 0.5.

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 nine games this season, OU has achieved 10 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 10.1. With 11.2 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 nine 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 (107 in nine 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 has one week off before visiting Creighton in Omaha, Neb., Sunday, Dec. 20.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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