Preseason Hoops Ends with Grand Canyon

Nov. 9, 2011


	Joanna McFarland

No. 15 Oklahoma (0-0) vs. Grand Canyon (0-0)
Date & Tip Time	Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7:07 p.m. CT
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Lloyd Noble Center \| Seating Views
Tickets	$5, $8 and $15; Free to OU students with valid OU I.D. OU Athletics Ticket Office
TV	Sooner Sports Network COX 3 (703 HD) in Oklahoma City and Tulsa
Radio	KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City Metro Area
Webcast	SoonerSports.com All-Access
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com GameTracker
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF)

THE GAME PLAN
Oklahoma plays its final exhibition game Thursday, Nov. 10, hosting Division II Grand Canyon University, a private Christian school from Phoenix, Ariz., at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on COX Channel 3 (703 HD) in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas with Toby Rowland and Billy Tubbs calling the action. A free webcast is available on SoonerSports.com All-Access. The radio broadcast with Brian Brinkley can be heard on KOKC 1520 AM.

Tickets
• 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.

Promotions
• The official women's basketball team posters and schedule cards will be available to fans on the concourse near entry points of the arena.

The Game
• This is OU's second and final exhibition game. GCU, ranked 14th in the Division II Preseason Coaches' Poll is playing its third and final exhibition. The Lopes lost to Cal State San Marcos, 64-59, in overtime last Thursday and to Arizona, 84-51, on Sunday.
• Oklahoma begins the preseason ranked No. 16 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll and No. 15 in the Associated Press Poll.

The Coaches
• Sherri Coale is 336-155 (.684) in her 16th season at Oklahoma. She has been the Big 12 Coach of the Year four times.
• GCU head coach Trent May is 83-33 (.716) in his fifth year with the school and 210-90 (.700) in his 11th year as a head coach. In 2011, May earned his third PacWest Coach of the Year honor. May is a graduate of Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla., and was an assistant coach for four years there, winning a national title.
• GCU associate head coach Cory Cole is a native of Norman, Okla., and Hall of Fame member of the Norman High School, where he played for a state title at Norman in 1990. He earned his degree at Oklahoma Christian, where he is also in its hall of fame, and finished his career with All-America honors and the school's all-time leading scoring and rebounding records.

Grand Canyon Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2010-11 Statistics
10	Shelia Washington	G	5-7	Jr.	Mississippi Valley State transfer
20	Angelina Dennison	G	5-9	Sr.	Grayson County College transfer
21	Maylinn Smith	F	5-9	So.	10.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg
45	Deanna Daniels	F	5-10	Jr.	Pima Community College transfer
50	Jallisa Butler	C	6-1	Sr.	8.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg

Oklahoma Projected Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Year	2010-11 Statistics
10	Morgan Hook	G	5-10	So.	6.6 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.1 apg
3	Aaryn Ellenberg	G	5-7	So.	16.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg
25	Whitney Hand	G	6-1	RS-Jr.	12.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg
53	Joanna McFarland	F	6-3	Jr.	5.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg
4	Nicole Griffin	C	6-6	So.	5.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg

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.

NEXT UP
Oklahoma begins its regular season Sunday, Nov. 13, hosting Sacramento State at the Lloyd Noble Center at 2 p.m. The game will be aired on SoonerVision (COX 3, 703 HD in Oklahoma City and Tulsa) and on radio at KOKC 1520 AM.

Sooner to Watch
	Morgan Hook \| So. \| Guard Hook's debut at point guard in last Wednesday's exhibition versus UCO probably could not have gone smoother. The sophomore was 4-of-5 from the field and hit all three of her shots from beyond the arc for 11 points. Additionally, she totaled six rebounds, five assists, three steals and had just one turnover in 24 minutes on the court.

PREVIEWING GRAND CANYON
Grand Canyon University was the preseason pick to win the Pacific West Conference title, which it has won four times in the past five years. GCU is coming off the best season in school history. The `Lopes were ranked No. 9 in the final USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division II Top 25 poll after finishing with a 29-3 overall record and advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time.

GCU, which is ranked No. 14 in the USA Today ESPN Division II Preseason Top 25 Coaches' Poll, returns six players from last year's team, including sophomore guard Maylinn Smith (Mesa, Ariz., Mesquite), who averaged 10.6 points per game, the third-most on the team. Also back is senior forward Jallisa Butler (Las Vegas, Nev., Cimarron, Barstow CC), who led the squad in rebounding (7.9 per game) and field-goal percentage (.590).

Both Smith and Butler were named to the 2011-12 Preseason All-PacWest Team.

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.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Preseason Hoops Ends with Grand Canyon

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