Women's Hoops Hosts Media Day, Scrimmage

NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma women's basketball team held its annual season-ticket holder scrimmage Thursday at the Lloyd Noble Center, less than one week from its first exhibition game. The Sooners introduced its most loyal fans to its new look by getting its four newcomers under the lights for the first time.

OU played five 10-minute periods, alternating from competing against its male practice players to an intrasquad battle. After the one-and-one-half hour session, Red and White tied 83-83.

Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg led the scrimmage with 22 points. The top returning scorer from last year's team also totaled nine rebounds and five steals in 33 minutes of court time.

Junior Whitney Hand and freshman DaShawn Harden totaled 17 points each. Harden had the session's lone double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds and an additional six assists.

Posts Joanna McFarland, with 17 points, and Nicole Griffin, with 12 points, also scored in double digits. Freshman Sharane Campbell, who hit on four of nine field goal attempts for 10 points was the final Sooner to reach double-figure scoring.

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The Sooners started cold, shooting just 22 percent in the first period as the scout team took a 24-12 advantage. McFarland scored 5 for Red and put them on the board early, showing range at power forward with a clean 3 from the new arc distance that measures 20-feet, 9-inches to match men's college hoops.

In the second period, Harden scored 8 of White's 18 to lead her group to a four-point advantage over Red. Ellenberg made two of her three attempts from 3-point range to score 6 points in seven minutes for Red.

The women played their men's practice squad to a 15-15 tie in the third period with Red's Ellenberg and McFarland leading the scoring with 5 and 4 points, respectively.

In the fourth, Red nipped White 21-19 as Hand poured in 7 for Red and freshman Kaylon Williams did the same for White. Red's Ellenberg scored 6, but was countered by Harden, who scored four and added five defensive rebounds and three assists for White.

In the final 10 minutes, the Sooner women trounced their male scout team 21-7 by hitting 9-of-19 shots and getting 5 points apiece from Hand and Harden.

Oklahoma begins its season Wednesday, Nov. 2, with an exhibition against Central Oklahoma at 7 p.m.

Prior to the scrimmage Sherri Coale and select student-athletes participated in an interview session with local media. Quotes from that session may be read below:

Head Coach Sherri Coale

Opening statement:
"I just want to say thank you to all of you guys for coming out today on our first cold, rainy day. I appreciate you remembering that basketball season is just around the corner. We are very, very excited about the upcoming season; we are really looking forward to it. We have had really good practices, young guys who are learning and growing and it has been fun. It really has been fun. I love going to practice with this bunch every day. And I'm excited to see what they can do tonight."

On the biggest challenge this season:
"The biggest challenge is the replacement of Danielle Robinson. It is the most asked question and it is the most pertinent question probably as the point guard leads the team and runs the show. Our point guard, whoever it ends up being, will not have experience. Danielle [Robinson] played almost every minute of every game the entire time she was here at Oklahoma. So, we are replacing that. We were expecting to have the services of Jasmine [Hartman], which we won't. She had some experience, obviously, but with the ACL injury she is out. We will be young handling the basketball, so that will probably be our biggest adjustment."

On growing young players through the early parts of the season:
"I think that the most critical thing is to not give the point guards too much to do. Not give them too many decisions to make, not giving them too much information to digest. We kind of have to pace ourselves. Several times here in the early couple of weeks, I have a master calendar of things I want to get in at a given time. We are notoriously slow for getting any sets in, getting inbound packages in and that sort of thing. I have adjusted that calendar a couple of times already just to make sure that what we do, we do really well. There is no reason in doing 15 things and doing them all kind of halfway. I'd rather do two or three things really well. So we have slowed the calendar down. I think I have to be cognoscente of that with our young guys."

Last time having to slow down the calendar:
"It has been awhile, probably since Danielle [Robinson]'s freshman year. Because when you have a point guard you can give more and control a little bit more through her. I have relied on Danielle Robinson for a long time, but it is fun. This has been really fun already."

On point guard options:
"Right now the battle is really between Morgan Hook and DaShawn Harden. I think that the two of them will share time, I really do. It is not necessarily a rotational point guard system, I don't really get caught up in all of that. Morgan [Hook] can play a two and DaShawn [Harden] will be able to play two. Right now I'm trying to keep her learning one position as much as possible. There is so much to learn at the point position. We are going with that right now. Morgan [Hook] can easily slide over if she needs to. Maybe later in her career, or later in the year, DaShawn [Harden] will be able to as well. Those two guys are different from one another and yet both very effective in the way they run the team. I like it. I think they are both going to play a lot."

On team goals:
"This team has chosen to sort of divide up this season in terms of some events we are in, in terms of owning our home floor and having a home-court stand. Obviously, an opportunity of winning the Big 12 Conference before the makeup of the Big 12 changes dramatically. It has already changed some, with one more year of Texas A&M in the conference. Goals that lead to conference championships and tournament championships. You know when you have been to three Final Fours, the goal to win a national championship is always on the board. It may be a long range goal, and there are lots of ones we have to check off before we get to that but that is always on the horizon."

On balancing past achievements with goals for new players:
"I think the beauty of passing the baton is in the expectations. Our young guys inherent them. They arrive here and they think, you know what, we are supposed to go to the Sweet 16. That is a minimum in the minds of our guys. Having been here when that wasn't the expectations, I can tell you that it is nicer for guys to come in and expect to do things like that. It is easier to guide them toward that. I think they know what they want to do. Even the young guys that came in and followed the Final Four, they want to get to the Final Four. That's what they dreamed about last year, and that freshman class didn't get to go. They realize that they have three more chances to do that. It is fairly easy in that sense to keep the drive and keep the aspiration at the right thing. When you have players on the floor like a healthy Whitney [Hand] and a Vegas [Aaryn Ellenberg] and Nicole Griffin and Joanna McFarland, guys who have rather significant experience, even if they have only been on the floor a year or two with the exception of Whitney [Hand} -- those guys, they feel like they deserve to do those things, they have earned the right to do those things. That drives us as well."

Thoughts on deep rotation:
"I think there is great competition at all a spots right now. The first thing I would say about that is that it has made practice very, very healthy. When guys are going at it you have a very competitive gym when you are two deep at every position. We feel like we certainly have a chance to be that, at least. I don't know what the rotation will manifest itself as. If guys are in great condition and are really competing at full tilt, I can see there is not a great deal of difference right now in a lot of players at the position spots. So you play one until she can't go hard anymore, and then you play the other and then you rotate. You get great, great intensity for 40 minutes. That is a perfect world. We hope it shakes out just like that. I'd like to be able to play 10 who play just as hard as they possible can every second they are on the floor. I'd love to be able to do that. Unfortunately, that does not happen a lot. That continued progress from 10 people, it doesn't happen a lot realistically. Maybe it will, and I hope so, it would be fun if it does. But if it doesn't, we will be fine too."

On depth as this team's strength:
"I think it very well could be. It is inexperienced depth, but it is depth none the less and depth that has a really high ceiling."

On the Big 12's strength and appearances in the Final Four:
"I think once you have been to the Final Four, it is hard to watch anybody else win it. You just wish it was you. That is just as candid as I can possibly be. You don't want anybody to win; if you care, you don't want anybody to win. That is a very bitter way to face it but it is just hard because you just quit playing a week, five days before it happens. You envision yourself there so it is a tough situation. I am proud of our league, it is a fantastic representation of the Big 12. It makes three of our losses look a little less severe. I think it speaks to the parity of the women's basketball that the title has shifted from conference to conference over the last few years. I think it is a really positive reflection on what we have been able to do. We still wish it was us."

Thoughts on new Big 12 schedule:
"I am really excited about the home-and-home competitions. I think that we will get a true champion instead of the north/south divisions. That worked well for us, but I think we are all kind of excited about the opportunity to play everyone in the league twice. I think it will be a fun year. It is still the strongest women's basketball conference in the country. Every game will be a challenge and I'm excited about that."

On the type of team this year's will be:
"I think every team is a little bit different. We have shown over the years, we have been to three Final Fours and we have played differently all three of those seasons. We are going to play in the way that our personnel dictate we play. We are going to put them in the best possible situations to be successful. That being said, what you are not going to have is a point guard streaking down the floor with the basketball in transition getting 10 easy baskets a game. That is not necessarily the identity of DaShawn [Harden] or Morgan [Hook]. Our fast breaks will still be there, they will just look a little different. Instead of being so wide and opening up to let the point guard get to the rim, we will be a little bit pass ahead and little bit more attack from the wing. In that sense, we will be different just because Danielle [Robinson] was such a dynamic player and she will not be on the floor anymore. What it will look like when this team is playing well and being successful, is a low turnover ratio to assists. We will not be able to create a lot of offense off of our defense. I think we will defend very well, I think we will give people problems with scoring. But I don't necessarily envision our team that will be one who creates offense out of our defense. When that happens on the offensive end, we have to be very sure with the basketball ball and making sure we are getting attempts. I think you will see a nice high percentage from behind the 3-point line. I don't think the movement of the line back will affect us in any way, shape or form. It may affect our opponents' numbers, but I don't think it will affect ours. We have very, very good shooters and lots of them. I expect this team to score a lot of points, but I think what you will see is a lot more Oklahoma and a lot less superstar. And that is not saying anything negative about Danielle Robinson or Amanda Thompson who came before her or the twins [Courtney and Ashley Paris] who came before her. I just think this team really will scream Oklahoma at you by the way they share the basketball and by the number of different players we are involved."

Expectations for Whitney Hand:
"I have said for the past couple of years, and maybe even in Whitney's freshman year when it was all hope and promise, I think she is one of those special basketball players that make all the people around her better. It is her presence. She can shoot it, she can score, she is a great offensive rebounder. There are lots of things she does well. She may be our best post feeder. But it is her presence that makes her special. Not only were we limited last year in her ability to get shots and to feel comfortable taking those shots when she did get them. Her presence was affected as well because she had to spend so much time making sure physically she could even get up and down the court. So what you will see from her this year is an entirely different version. She looks comfortable on the floor again. She is smarter than she was as a freshman. She is a savvy player. She makes good decisions. She is a leader. She has really grown in her ability to lead the team and to impact people off the floor as well as on the floor. Her play is just integral. She just makes everything a little bit better."

On expectations for newcomers:
"I'll tell you right now, Sharane Campbell can go to the basket. I told people since the day we signed her, she might remind you LaNeisha Caufield because of her ability for getting fouled. She is just really good at getting fouled. It is an art form, going in and making the defense commit to you and draw the foul. She can do that. She can get right by you where you can't catch her to foul her. I have been unbelievably impressed with her explosiveness going to the rim, both with the ball in her hand and without it. When we got her to figure out to just watch the head of her defender, and when they can't see you anymore to just cut, it's over. She got that one, she understands it. And I pity the person who guards her and just turns her head because she is gone. I love that about her, her willingness to do those things. She needs to get tighter with the basketball. She has got to improve her shooting consistency; defensively there are all kinds of things she has to learn. She doesn't block out yet, we could go down the list. But I'll tell you what, she can go to the basket. That might be worth its weight in gold.

"DaShawn Harden has an offensive skill set that is wide and very mature for her age. She can score off the dribble; she can go to the rim; she can pull up; she can shoot the 3; she is one of the best passers we have had in a long, long time. She is really, really competitive. For all the things Danielle Robinson could do, her ace was her competitive nature. She would fight you, she would do anything to win. I think DaShawn [Harden] has a bit of that in her.

"Kay Kay [Kaylone Williams] has been explosive. She is a rebounder. She is going to be that guy that when you look up at the end of the game she will have 10 points and 12 rebounds and you don't really remember how it happened. You will just look at the stat sheet and go oh my gosh, what a line. I think that will be the type of player she is early in her career anyway. She just makes a difference. She impacts plays because she will go get the rebound much like Sharane [Campbell] will go to the basket. When the ball comes off the rim, Kay Kay is going to go get it. Again, worth its weight in gold. So I've just been incredibly impressed by these young guys."

Whitney Hand

Morgan Hook

Aaryn Ellenberg

Joanna McFarland

Sharane Campbell

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women's Hoops Hosts Media Day, Scrimmage

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