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February 13, 2013 | Record: 18-5 (8-3 Big 12) | Gameday Central | Stats

Six Words Climb the Ladder

Even before they knew how much it would mean, the Sooners were tasked with generating six-word memoirs that would define their season. Head coach Sherri Coale asked that they be written on a ladder she had purchased at an auction to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

“I thought it would be a fun thing for our team to do in the offseason. Maybe if they wrote those six-word 'athletic' memoirs of themselves on the ladder and put the ladder in the gym, it might be a visual symbol of what they were trying to accomplish.”

One week later, the OU women's basketball team became aware that assistant coach Jan Ross was diagnosed with breast cancer. Not ones to let an opportunity to be special slip away, the Sooners knew exactly what to do with the ladder.

Each member of the team wrote an individual six-word memoir as instructed. Yet, on the front of each step, they added a collaborative message:

PLAYING FOR OUR ROCK, COACH ROSS.

“It was one of the most touching things of my life,” Ross said. “We had been so busy trying to figure things out and where do we go next? We forgot all about it.

“Just out of the blue we kind of remembered and just needed to get away. Just wanted to see what they had written. I had no idea they were going to do something like that, so it was very special.”

“It swept her off her feet,” OU junior guard Morgan Hook said. “She told us she came down there and had no idea that's what we were doing. She read all of the individual ones and then looked at the steps and saw what it said. Pretty sure it brought tears to her eyes. She knows what she means to us, but just to see it written on there really hit her hard.”

The Sooners, no strangers to adversity, have used the six words as its slogan for the season and are motivated daily by their coach's battle.

“All the people who helped me and supported me and sent cards and letters – it's too many to name,” Ross said. “Cancer is a fight and you've got to battle it every day. Every day I would hear from someone new. They don't let you rest; they wouldn't let me be satisfied. It made it an unfair fight.”

Pack the Place Pink

OU hosts its Seventh Annual Pack the Place Pink game Thursday at 7 p.m. when No. 24 Iowa State visits the Lloyd Noble Center.

For the Cyclones and Sooners, the night -- part of the Play4Kay initiative -- takes greater meaning as cancer survivors will patrol each sideline. Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly had a cancerous lesion removed from his vocal chords and underwent radiation treatments in the early part of the 2011-12 season. Oklahoma assistant coach Jan Ross learned of her breast cancer in April 2012 and endured a summer of chemotherapy before getting a clear diagnosis as the current season began.

“It will mean more, I think, that ever, obviously,” OU assistant coach and cancer survivor Jan Ross said. “You think you understand it, and then you go through it and realize you didn't understand it.”

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, making the disease one of the most common in the United States.

Every one of the 12,000 seats of the Lloyd Noble Center will have a pink t-shirt for fans to wear during the game, which honors the people and families and friends of those who have or are currently fighting cancers, making the occasion is one of the most popular OU Athletics events each year.

“Our kids had such an amazing time on Sunday night,” Coale said. “They absolutely reveled in the energy this crowd gave us. Our guys had such fun with that. I know they are looking forward to that again.”

Griffin a Constant Improver

It seems every time that 6-foot-6 Nicole Griffin has reached her ceiling, she adds another story to her house.

Griffin was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the first time in her career after averaging 17 points and five rebounds the past week, including a career performance to lead the Sooners over Oklahoma State.

“You can look back, and there's a very subtle, but very definite, progression in her game,” Coale said. “Taking two steps towards the glass, attacking the rim when the shot goes up – little, subtle things that don't show up anywhere until it's completed.”

Griffin averaged 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in November, but shot just 55 percent at the free throw line. In December, Griffin spent extra time before and after practices, shooting hundreds of free throws. Her scoring and rebounding averages increased to 12.4 and 6.0, respectively, and her free-throw shooting rose to 83 percent. Yet, she had just one assist and 15 turnovers in five games.

By January's end, Griffin was third on the team behind only point guards Morgan Hook and Jasmine Hartman in assists per minute and dropped her turnover average by one per game.

And February? The turnover ratio has dropped further and Griffin trails Aaryn Ellenberg by one point as the team's leading scorer for the month.

UP NEXT
OU hosts the "Pack the Place Pink" game on Thursday vs. Iowa State before a Sunday road contest at KU:

Date	Opponent	Time
2/14	vs. Iowa State	7 p.m.
2/17	at Kansas	1:30 p.m.

Tickets | Full Schedule
MOST RECENTLY
The Sooners won consecutive games for the first time since reeling off six in a row from Dec. 20-Jan. 12:

Opponent	W/L	Score
Okla. State	W	80-61
Kansas State	W	74-68

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women.

Each year it is estimated that over 220,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die.

Although breast cancer in men is rare, an estimated 2,150 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 410 will die each year.

According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of women each year and affecting countries at all levels of modernization.

National Breast Cancer Foundation

EXTRA INSPIRATION
Jaden Austin, a cancer survivor, has been an inspiration to the OU women's basketball team:

Jaden Austin Inspires Sooners

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Sherri Coale
"At the start of the night we didn't shoot it very well, obviously, but we didn't let it affect our energy level. We didn't let it affect our confidence. We continued to defend and rebound. This team is growing. They're still getting better; every day they're getting better."

Junior C Nicole Griffin
"I would say that I notice it when we come out for the last time before the game starts. That's when most everyone is at the game and you just look up to see people all the way at the top. There are people everywhere and I just think 'Alright! This is the time!' That helped me out personally; you want to show up for your fans."

Junior G Morgan Hook
"We didn't let our missed shots at the beginning affect us, like we have previously. In our tight huddles, we just said, 'The ball is going to go in this next time.' We just started moving the ball more and feeding the post and moving in and out. We had more rhythm, and I think it all developed from being able to feed it to Nicole (Griffin) any time we wanted to."
TEAM NOTES

Despite a 1-for-8 3-point performance in the first half of Sunday's Bedlam win, the Sooners' strength surged in the second half when they were 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. Oklahoma now ranks second in the NCAA in 3-point field goal percentage (.392) and eighth in 3-pointers made per game (8.4).

Oklahoma had five members on the Academic All-Big 12 First Team, a league high.

Oklahoma's Bedlam win gave the Sooners consecutive victories in February for the first time since 2009-10 season when the they beat Oklahoma State, 77-66, on Feb. 6 and in overtime against Baylor, 62-60, on Feb. 10.

2012-13 Game Notes

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Junior C Nicole Griffin
The Big 12 Player of the Week recorded two blocks, passing Ashley Paris (2006-09) for fourth on Oklahoma's career blocks list. She needs eight more to pass No. 3 Amanda Thompson (2007-10).

Soph. G Sharane Campbell
Campbell has a 17-for-34 (50 percent) success rate on 3-point attempts in Big 12 play. Campbell made just two of 18 (.111) 3-point attempts in 12 non-conference games.

Junior G Morgan Hook
With 6.9 per game, Hook is second for assists average in Big 12 games. She'll face off against No. 1 in Iowa State's Nikki Moody, who averages 7.5.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Stay connected with the OU women's basketball team by following our feeds on Twitter and Instagram:

Twitter: @OUWomensHoops
Instagram: @ou_wbasketball