Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus North Carolina on November 2, 2026 at TBA
TBA
Women's Basketball
vs North Carolina
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Oklahoma Faces New Mexico at The Pit
November 18, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2011
 |
|
| Aaryn Ellenberg |
| No. 13 Oklahoma (1-0) vs. New Mexico (0-2) | |
| Date & Tip Time | Saturday, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. CT | Gameday Central |
| Location | Albuquerque, N.M. | University Arena |
| Tickets | New Mexico Athletics Ticket Office |
| TV | None |
| Radio | KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City Metro Area | Live Audio |
| Webcast | GoLobos.com All-Access |
| Live Stats | SoonerSports.com GameTracker |
| Game Info | Game Notes (PDF) |
THE GAME PLAN
Oklahoma plays its first road game Saturday, Nov. 19, visting New Mexico with a 3 p.m. Central tip-off. The radio broadcast with Chuck Cooperstein airs on KOKC 1520 AM in the Oklahoma City metro area.
Tickets Available
• Season Tickets are available for as low as $114. Tickets may be purchased online at SoonerSports.com or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-456-GoOU.
• Single-game tickets went on sale to the general public Nov. 1. Prices are $15 for reserved seating, $8 for general admission adults and $5 for general admission youths and senior citizens. OU students receive free admission when presenting a valid ID.
The Game
• This is the 11th meeting between Oklahoma and New Mexico. OU holds an 8-2 advantage in the all-time series and is 3-1 in Albuquerque.
• New Mexico opened the season with losses at Texas Tech (69-43) and North Texas (63-50). The Lobos are not ranked.
• Oklahoma is ranked No. 14 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll and No. 13 in the Associated Press Poll.
• OU and New Mexico played to the final second in Norman last season with the Sooners coming away with a 63-60 victory. The Sooners have won four straight versus the Lobos (all since 2005). OU's last loss to New Mexico was on Nov. 28, 1995, a season before Sherri Coale became OU's head coach.
The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 337-155 (.685) in her 16th season at Oklahoma. She has been the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• New Mexico head coach Yvonne Sanchez is 0-2 in her first season.
Next Game
• Oklahoma travels to Nashville, Tenn., for a Thanksgiving Weekend tournanment at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym. OU will play Liberty on Friday, Nov. 25, and then either Lipscomb or Vanderbilt on Saturday, Nov. 26.
| New Mexico Projected Starters | |||||
No. |
Name | Pos. |
Ht. |
Year |
2011-12 Statistics |
12 |
Nikki Nelson | G |
5-5 |
Sr. |
2.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg |
14 |
Jourdan Erskine | G |
6-0 |
Jr. |
3.0 ppg, 2.5 apg |
23 |
Porsche Torrance | G/F |
6-1 |
Sr. |
7.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg |
24 |
Caroline Durbin | F |
6-0 |
Sr. |
14.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg |
35 |
Chinyere Nnaji | F |
6-0 |
So. |
1.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg |
| Oklahoma Projected Starters | |||||
No. |
Name | Pos. |
Ht. |
Year |
2011-12 Statistics |
10 |
Morgan Hook | G |
5-10 |
So. |
12 points, 8 assists |
3 |
Aaryn Ellenberg | G |
5-7 |
So. |
28 points, 5 rebounds |
25 |
Whitney Hand | G |
6-1 |
RS-Jr. |
18 points, 10 rebounds |
53 |
Joanna McFarland | F |
6-3 |
Jr. |
2 points, 5 rebounds |
4 |
Nicole Griffin | C |
6-6 |
So. |
14 points, 9 rebounds |
PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners were picked by the league's coaches to finish fourth in the Big 12 Conference this season. The media has Oklahoma 15th in the Preseason Associated Press Poll and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll has Oklahoma at No. 16.
Oklahoma returns to the court following its third straight Sweet 16 appearance. OU returns nine letterwinners from that squad and introduces four freshmen.
The Sooners must replace one of its most successful senior classes after the graduation of two-time All-American point guard and eligibility exhausted for Carlee Roethlisberger and Lauren Willis. That trio claimed 54 wins inside the Lloyd Noble Center, the most by Oklahoma in a four-year span.
Redshirt junior Whitney Hand is finally back to 100 percent health after suffering an ACL tear in November 2009 and returning to action in January 2011.
Sophomore Aaryn Ellenberg, the team's top returning scorer, was true to self in the team's preseason scrimmage by leading the scoring with 22 points.
Unfortunately, senior Jasmine Hartman will not play in 2011-12 after tearing her ACL in a September workout and Lyndsey Cloman doing the same in OU's first exhibition game on Nov. 2.
Captains for 2011-12
Junior Lyndsey Cloman, redshirt junior Whitney Hand and senior Jasmine Hartman are co-captains of the Sooners this season. The captains were voted by their teammates.
All Home Games Televised
All 14 of OU's regular season home games plus the two exhibition contests will be televised either locally on the Sooner Sports Network or nationally on Fox Sports Net or ESPN2.
OU's games on the Sooner Sports Network are also webcast on SoonerSports.com All-Access subscription site (exhibitions free).
An additional eight road games are scheduled to be televised on various networks, giving OU a guaranteed slate of 24 television broadcasts in 2011-12.
DeCosta Returns as an Assistant
Pam DeCosta has returned to Oklahoma after four seasons as head coach at San Jose State. There, she led the Spartans to their first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly three decades and the fifth Western Athletic Conference tournament victory in their history.
DeCosta was an assistant at OU during Coale's first two seasons and was significant in constructing its championship tradition, having recruited some of the program's most distinguished student-athletes, including two-time All-American Stacey Dales.
DeCosta was an assistant at the University of Kansas for a total of eight seasons (1994-96 and 1999-2003) with a stint at OU between. During her time at KU, the Jayhawks won a Big Eight Championship and made five NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 1996.
|
||||||
PREVIEWING NEW MEXICO
New Mexico steps onto its legendary home court for the first time this season after picking up a pair of losses during a Texas Two-Step.
UNM fell 69-43 to Texas Tech in Lubbock on Nov. 11 and 63-50 to North Texas in Denton on Nov. 14. Junior guard Caroline Durbin led the Lobos in scoring in both games with 17 and 11 points, respectively.
New Mexico's longtime head coach Don Flanagan stepped down in the offseason after his first losing season (13-18) in his 15 years, paving the way for assistant Yvonne Sanchez to take over the reins, but not before the entire freshmen class left.
Adding to the disfortune, junior guard Sara Halasz, New Mexico's lone preseason all-conference pick, is out for the season after tearing an ACL in the preseason.
The Lobos were picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West Conference behind TCU, San Diego State and Colorado State.
HARDEN BIG 12 FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Oklahoma's DaShawn Harden was named the season's first Big 12 Women's Basketball Freshman of the Week, chosen by a media voting panel for games from Nov. 11-14.
Harden scored 15 points in 22 minutes as the Sooners set a team record for most points scored in a half (69) in its 117-55 victory against Sacramento State Sunday, Nov. 13. The rookie guard was OU's third-leading scorer in her collegiate debut, trailing preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention selections Aaryn Ellenberg (28) and Whitney Hand (18).
Harden had a game-high six steals and connected on 50 percent (6-of-12) of her shots as she broke through the Hornets' full-court pressure defense. The Olathe, Kan., native was also 3-of-4 from the free-throw line and added two assists and two rebounds as OU's backup point guard.
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT TOPS D-1
Through games played Thursday, Nov. 17, Oklahoma's 117-point scoring barrage against Sacramento State in its season opener is the most offense of any Division I team thus far in 2011-12.
Oklahoma shot 59.7 percent (43-of-72) for the game and made 11 of 23 3-pointers. The Sooners broke a 28-year-old program record for points in a half with 69 in the first period versus the Hornets.
It was OU's 46th 100-plus-point game in its history, of which 14 have come under Sherri Coale. Only one of those 46 games have been played to overtime.
OPENING THE SEASON
Oklahoma is 22-15 all-time in its season opener. The Sooners have won three straight season openers, and seven of their last eight. OU's last loss to an unranked team in a season opener was to Stephen F. Austin in the first game of 1997-98.
Oklahoma has won 13 consecutive home openers is 28-9 all-time in its first game at the Lloyd Noble Center. In its last 10 home openers, OU's margin of victory is 31.5 points.
OKLAHOMA FOURTH IN BIG 12 VOTE
The University of Oklahoma women's basketball team was picked fourth in the preseason poll of the Big 12 coaches. Baylor was selected as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 regular season title for the third consecutive year.
The Lady Bears received all of the possible nine first-place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) after capturing both the Big 12 regular season and postseason titles a year ago. Texas A&M, last season's national champion, was picked second and nabbed the other first-place vote. Just two points separated the next two spots as Texas was chosen third, followed by Oklahoma in fourth. Iowa State rounded out the top five. The remaining selections were Texas Tech in sixth, Kansas seventh, Oklahoma State eighth, Kansas State ninth and Missouri 10th.
Sooners Aaryn Ellenberg and Whitney Hand were honorable mentions to the All-Big 12 team of Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims (Baylor), Carolyn Davis (Kansas), Toni Young (Oklahoma State), Chassidy Fussell (Texas) and Tyra White (Texas A&M).
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
Oklahoma's 2011-12 women's basketball team gets in the record books before a minute of ball is even played. The team averages to 6-feet, 1-inch in height, the tallest team in OU's history. Led by the tallest player in the program's history, 6-foot-6 Nicole Griffin is among the eight of 13 Sooners who are 6-0 or taller.
OU's first team was its shortest. The 1974-75 squad averaged 5-5 with its tallest member, freshman center Julie Arrington, towering over her teammates at 5-10. Freshman guard Alice Roach measured at 5-1, the shortest player in OU history.
Just three seasons later, OU cracked 5-9 as an average height for the first time and would reach 5-11 after the following five years. It would take almost two decades to grow another inch, though, as the Sooners averaged to 6-0 for the first time last season.
Friday, July 24
Friday, July 17
Friday, July 10
Friday, July 03
