Sooners Open Big 12 Championship with Cowgirls

^24/22OKLAHOMA

OKLAHOMA STATE

MARCH 5 | 11 A.m. CT | OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. | BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

SATURDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 24/22 Oklahoma (20-9, 10-7 Big 12) is the No. 5 seed in this year's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, to be played Friday through Monday at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. Baylor, Texas, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, OU and Kansas State are the top six seeds, respectively, and earned a first-round bye.

OU will open play Saturday at 11 a.m. CT against Oklahoma State (21-8, 11-7 Big 12). If the Sooners win Saturday, they will play a semifinals contest on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT. OU has won four Big 12 tournament titles (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007) in program history.

ON THE AIR

Saturday's game will be televised on FSN with Ron Thulin and Brenda VanLengen announcing. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Brian Brinkley calling the action.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma boasts a 24-15 (.615) Big 12 Championship record, good for the second best winning percentage among current league members. The Sooners have won at least one tournament game in 13 of the event's 19 years (six times in last eight years). OU's four tournament titles (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007) are the second most behind Baylor's seven. The Sooners have played in six of the 19 Big 12 title games.

• Oklahoma holds a 58-40 all-time series advantage against Oklahoma State, but was swept by the Cowgirls this season for the first time since 1998. OU is 2-1 against Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Championship. Saturday's matchup is just the second-ever meeting between the two programs in Oklahoma City (OSU won 53-52 at Fredrickson Fieldhouse in 1982).

• The Sooners are 9-4 when playing in Oklahoma City under head coach Sherri Coale (4-3 at Chesapeake Energy Arena). OU has already played one game in OKC this season, falling 74-68 to Texas A&M on Dec. 20 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Sooners are 15-6 all-time in games played in Oklahoma City.

Gioya Carter

Gioya Carter led the Sooners with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting in their last matchup with Oklahoma State on Feb. 3.

• Sophomore center Vionise Pierre-Louis was named the Big 12's Sixth Man of the Year after leading the conference in field goal percentage, shooting .625 from the field during the regular season. The sophomore also was first in conference play with a .633 shooting percentage among Big 12 players. In Big 12 play, Pierre-Louis averaged 10.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest, while ranking eighth in the conference with a .786 free throw percentage.

• After struggling from beyond the arc throughout Big 12 play, the Sooners are shooting .519 (27-of-37) from 3-point range in their last two contests. OU finished with a season-best .600 clip (6-of-10) from deep on Feb. 27 against Iowa State.

SOONERS AT BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

Team	Last Meeting	Record
Baylor	2010	4-0
Iowa State	2013	2-2
Kansas	2009	2-0
Kansas State	2004	2-1
Oklahoma State	2010	2-1
TCU	Never met	0-0
Texas	2015	2-4
Texas Tech	2011	1-0
West Virginia	2015	2-0

GAME 29 RECAP: TEXAS TECH

• Five Sooners in double figures as No. 24 Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech, 70-60, at United Supermarkets Arena on Tuesday night.

• Gioya Carter led the Sooners with 15 points, all coming in the second half, while Vionise Pierre-Louis and Maddie Manning chipped in 11 points against Texas Tech. T'ona Edwards and Peyton Little both scored 10 points apiece as Oklahoma earned its 20th victory of the year. The Sooners have won at least 20 games 14 times in the Sherri Coale era.

• Manning scored all of her 11 points in the opening frame. The redshirt junior hit three 3-pointers in the first period, which tied a career high. Texas Tech clawed back into the game by holding OU to just eight points in the second quarter, trimming the Sooners' lead to 31-25 at halftime.

• Carter provided a spark for OU with 15 points in the second half. The Sooners, who were 13-of-25 (.520), from the field in the second half, stretched its lead to 63-50 to with 2:17 to go. The Sooners finished with a .453 shooting percentage, while holding Texas Tech to a .400 clip. From behind the arc, OU hit 8-of-17 (.471) from 3-point range while holding the Lady Raiders to just 3-of-15 (.200).

PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA STATE

• Picked to finish eighth by the Big 12 coaches, Oklahoma State finished the regular season with a 21-8 overall record and 11-7 mark in Big 12 play. The Cowgirls, who are 5-7 in true road games, defeated Kansas State, 59-51, in Stillwater Monday night to close their league slate. The Cowgirls average 66.2 points a contest (ranks seventh in the Big 12) on .426 field goal shooting (fourth), .278 3-point shooting (last) and .626 free throwing shooting (last). They allow opponents just 57.8 points a game (fourth in the Big 12) on .359 shooting (fourth) and .302 from behind arc (sixth).

• Oklahoma State's Brittney Martin was named the Big 12's Player of the Year on Wednesday, the first player in school history to earn the honor. Martin leads the Big 12 in scoring (20.4), rebounding (11.3), steals (2.9) and minutes played (36.9). The senior is also 15th in Division I with 11.0 rebounds per contest while ranking sixth in the country in double-doubles (19) and 24th in scoring (20.4). Sophomore center Kaylee Jensen is fourth in rebounding (8.6 rpg) and seventh in the league in scoring (15.3 ppg). Senior guard Roddricka Patton is fourth in Division I with 7.2 assists per game.

• The Cowgirls are under the direction of fifth-year head coach Jim Littell (109-52 record). Littell was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year on Wednesday, the first Oklahoma State head coach to earn the honor.

• Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 58-40, against Oklahoma State with the Sooners winning 15 out of the last 21 meetings. Saturday's matchup marks just the second meeting between the Cowgirls and Sooners in Oklahoma City in series history (last meeting came in 1982).

• OU head coach Sherri Coale is 32-11 in the Bedlam series during her tenure with the Sooners. Coale is 5-5 against OSU head coach Jim Littell.

SOONERS IN OKC

• In one of the most watched women's basketball games in history, OU defeated then-No. 12 Tennessee, 80-70, on Feb. 2, 2009. Whitney Hand poured in 20 points, while Danielle Robinson dished out 12 assists as OU denied Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt her 1,000th career win.

• OU clinched its second Final Four appearance in program history with a 74-68 victory over Purdue in the Elite Eight on March 31, 2009. Robinson scored a game-high 23 points while Courtney Paris logged a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

• The Sooners last Big 12 tournament title came in 2007 at the Cox Convention Center, when OU topped Iowa State, 67-60, in Oklahoma City. Paris pulled in 21 rebounds and scored 23 points, while Leah Rush scored 18 points for the Sooners.

QUICK HITTERS

McKenna Treece has seen significant action off the bench in the last three games and pulled down a season-high six rebounds at Texas Tech.

• Kaylon Williams' 32 points against Iowa State are tied with Oklahoma State's Brittany Martin for the most by a Big 12 player against a conference foe this year. The redshirt senior's 32 points are the most by an OU player in a single game since Aaryn Ellenberg scored 36 against DePaul in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

• Oklahoma finished with a .600 3-point shooting percentage against Iowa State on Jan. 27, the highest clip by a Big 12 team in league play this year. It's the ninth-best mark by the Sooners in the Sherri Coale era.

• Tuesday's victory over Texas Tech gave the Sooners their 20th victory of the season. The Sooners have 14 20-win seasons under Coale. OU's win over Iowa State on Feb. 27 marked the 10th time in the last 11 seasons that the Sooners have recorded at least 10 victories in Big 12 play.

• Peyton Little earned her first career Big 12 Player of the Week on Feb. 1 for her performances against West Virginia and at Iowa State. The redshirt junior guard averaged 18.0 points per game during the week, scoring all of her points in the second half in both games. Little's 23 points tied a season-high for a Sooner in a single game. Her 23 points in the second half are the most by an OU player since Danielle Robinson recorded 24 at Oklahoma State in 2010.

• Oklahoma is 12-2 this season when leading at halftime and 3-0 when tied at the break. The Sooners are 5-6 when trailing at the intermission this season. OU is 16-2 this season when outrebounding its opponent and is 19-2 when holding foes to under 70 points. The Sooners are 17-3 when scoring 70 or more points against a foe this year.

• OU has also held 21 of its 29 opponents to sub-45 percent field goal shooting (five times in the last eight games). Only two opponents (Texas and Kansas State) have finished with a .500 or better shooting percentage against Oklahoma. The Sooners have also limited 18 of its 29 foes to sub 33-percent 3-point shooting.

• The Sooners are 24-15 at the Big 12 Championships under Sherri Coale. OU's last tournament title came in 2007.

• Coale will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on June 11, 2016, in Knoxville, Tenn. Coale is OU's all-time leader in wins (440), leading the Sooners to three Final Fours and 16 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

• Oklahoma has 14 players on its roster from eight different states and Puerto Rico (Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and San Juan, Puerto Rico).

• The Sooners return the majority of their production in every statistical category for 2015-16. That includes 81 percent of the team's points and rebounds, along with 85 percent of its assists, 81 percent of its blocks and 78 percent of its steals. OU also brings back 80 percent of its made 3-point field goals and its free throw production. 11 letterwinners return from last season's squad that combined to play 5,377 minutes a year ago.

UP NEXT

If OU beats Oklahoma State it will play a Big 12 Championship semifinals game against No. 1 seed Baylor, No. 8 seed Iowa State or No. 9 seed Texas Tech on Sunday 1:30 p.m. CT on Fox Sports 1.

For more information on Oklahoma women's basketball, follow the Sooners on Twitter (@OU_WBBall) or like Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball on Facebook.