Media Monday: Sooners Discuss Upcoming Season

NORMAN -- In the of middle preparation for the upcoming season, the Oklahoma women's basketball team met with reporters during the program's local media day Monday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale and her team previewed the upcoming season and discussed where the Sooners stand since beginning practice on Oct. 9.

“It is women's basketball season. It feels like it gets here quicker and quicker. I love that we are in the middle of a great football run right now, but within the next 11 days we will be playing an exhibition game and we are incredibly excited to get kicked off and move into basketball season.”

The Sooners open their season on Friday, Nov. 3 with their first exhibition contest of the year against Central Oklahoma at 7 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. OU kicks off the regular season at home on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. CT versus Belmont.

Here's more from OU's local media day:

HEAD COACH SHERRI COALE

On Shaina's Pellington transformation development:
“Shaina has done a terrific job of not getting herself too wrapped up into thinking that she needs to catch up. She is a very conscientious kid and she wants to do well in the classes and on the court, so she started off the semester feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, but she settled in really quickly. Her progress over the last three to four days has been huge. She has made a huge jump and I think it is because she is feeling the foundation below her. She understands the terminology and what we are trying to accomplish.

"Here is the thing about Shaina: she can do all the really hard stuff. The things that are really hard to teach she is amazing at. The other stuff that is not quite as hard she just has to learn. It is starting to now incrementally add up and she is taking confidence from that. That in turn enables her to use those gifts a little more. She has done an amazing job acclimating and getting up to speed with everything. It is all starting to feel comfortable.”

On Maddie Manning coming back for a sixth year:
“Maddie has an extensive skill set. There is not really anything she cannot do with the ball. She can bring it down and be the point guard, she can run the four man and trail the break. We need her to rebound and defend bigger players some times and she is capable of doing all of that. I think the thing for Maddie is consistency. Can she bring the same effort and concentration to every drill, to every practice, to every possession of every game, and if she can do that, then she will have a very special season because she has the tools she just has to be really consistent in her use of those.”

On the potential impact of the freshman class:
“All three of our freshmen have been fantastic. The one thing you can never know when you recruit a student athlete is how they are going to learn. You can see what they can do and what they cannot do but you have no way of gauging what kind of learner they are going to be. On the women's side it is a four-year process so there is nothing more important than the ability to learn, and move on and grasp more. All of these three freshmen are learners. They really digest information, make it apart of them and then move on to something else. That has me very excited because they all get a hitch and a need for what we have.

"They are all very different. Shaina is a speedy, athletic point guard. Ana is a scorer and perceptive athlete. She is very athletic. Then Mandy has the ability to do all the things that are the pause between the notes that make it work. She just does those things. She anticipates where the ball is going to go and gives it space, she sees when a shot is going to go up and crashes the glass, reads how a defender is guarding the screen and slips to the basket. It is those kind of things that make the Ana plays and Shaina plays around her look so good. The three of them are very complimentary of one another and all have proven to be very conscientious of one another.”

On Vionise Pierre-Louis' ability to stay on the floor:
“I think the biggest part of performing when the lights are on and everyone is watching and it matters and you know it matters, is how you set yourself up for that. It is all about mindset. I hope that Vivi does not have to play 35 minutes very often and if EJ continues to develop in the way we expect her to that will not be the situation for Vivi. If it is, one of the things I look back on is every day at practice she goes 90 minutes and does it well so she is capable of that. It is about opening up your mind and not convincing yourself that it is going to be hard or it is going to be tough. People get locked in on what a number is. I bet if they go out dances they do not put a clock on it. I bet you could dance a long time. So it is all about your mindset and your approach.”

FRESHMAN GUARD ANA LLANUSA

On the transition from high school to college:
“It's been a really exciting feeling. It became reality and it's been everything I expected it to be.”

On the high level of competition from high school and summer basketball helping the adjustment:
“I wouldn't say so much high school, but AAU prepared me a lot. There was plenty of competition that was like college basketball and the Big 12. It's still going to be a lot different but they're (the team) preparing me.”

On the freshmen meshing with the team:
“We have such a small team, so all the reps we get in practice is helping us to grow our bond on the court. I feel like so far we all read each other pretty well, and it's only going to grow from there.”

On the non-conference schedule:
“We're all excited for it. The competition is going to help us see how good we are. Playing smaller schools isn't going to show us anything, so we're ready for it and ready to learn from it.”

SENIOR CENTER VIONISE PIERRE-LOUIS

On the freshmen adjusting to college:
“They bring the life back into me. They make me want to be a freshman again, diving after balls and just working hard. You can tell them to do anything and they're going to go out there and do it. I just love that about them. They are each great at their separate talents which makes it fun to be around and fun to play with them.”

On the leadership role she's taking this season:
“This is my first year to have really taken ownership of my leadership skills. For three years my teammates have told me, 'You need to do this, you need to do that,' leadership-type things, and I was putting it on the back burner thinking somebody else will do it. But this year there's no room to hide, I have to step up and do what I have to do.”

On the non-conference slate:
“I love it. The first exhibition game is UCO so we kind of get to wet our feet a little, which is good. But then it's going to be nice to get hit in the mouth early and play good competition. Especially for our freshmen, we have a very young team so I want them to experience what a real NCAA Tournament-type environment will feel like. It's going to be a great couple games leading up to Big 12 play, which is always so tough and nasty and a different beast.”

FRESHMAN FORWARD MANDY SIMPSON

On the transition to college basketball:
“It's been really smooth so far, a lot smoother than I originally anticipated or thought. I think the biggest thing is level of play. It's a lot quicker here — I can already tell from scrimmages on-the-court-wise. And off-the-court-wise, just adjusting to life without parents and being so far away from my family but it's been smooth so far. I'm not really homesick yet, and Coach Coale has done a great job of easing us into the speed of play here and how we do things.”

On the veteran leadership of the team:
“They've helped tremendously. Having so many of them gives you different perspectives. They all help me in different areas of my game and my life. I think that's the biggest part. I can go to Maddie (Manning) for personal life issues cause she's really gotten to know me in that area, (LaNesia Williams) has helped me with guard play and Vivi (Pierre-Louis) has helped me with my post game. They all have different ways to help me and different points of view, so that has really helped me out.”

FRESHMAN GUARD SHAINA PELLINGTON

On her adjustment to college:
“It was a tough situation getting here a little later. I just had to catch up in a small amount of time. But, Coach Coale always was making sure that I was getting up to speed and kept reminding me that it's okay and that I was doing great. But now, I feel comfortable and up to speed and feel good where I'm at. Now it's just a growing and learning experience for me.”

On when the pace of the college game started to click:
“I would have to say maybe two weeks ago when we started playing live games. Now I'm really starting to feel comfortable and feel like I can really play now and know what I can do. Coach Coale always told me, 'Speed is your No. 1 advantage.' I know I have speed and can get up and down the court really quickly so when I've been put in position to use that I feel like I have excelled. That's where it really started clicking.”

On playing for Team Canada this summer:
“Playing international ball is always something I look forward to. It's a responsibility that I have the ability to represent my country and if they asked me to go back I would do it again. Playing overseas is amazing. It actually wasn't my first time. I've played over there a few times. It's always a learning experience playing against the best of the best and seeing different styles of play from European to Canadian to American styles of play. It's given me a lot of tools in my kit right now. I always look forward to playing internationally because it gives me things that I can add to my game.”

JUNIOR FORWARD IJEOMA ODIMGBE

On growing over the summer:
“I feel like I've grown in a way that I am more capable of being immersed in what I am doing and just being focused every day. I used to struggle with being consistent. I feel like growing in the area of consistency and just being able to stay focused on what I'm doing at that time and worry about everything else outside of that afterwards.”

On the freshmen class:
“They have been fantastic. Like, I don't even know how to describe it, but they came in just ready to work and ready to learn. They've grown so much in just a short amount of time because we have only been working since the summer. It's just an amazing thing to see. It kind of gave everybody a sigh of relief just to know that we have three new players that are willing to do what it takes and who are ready to learn and listen to others.”

GRADUATE STUDENT GUARD MADDIE MANNING

On experience gained from playing at OU for so long:
“I think the experience is huge. Even the first two years I was here I wasn't on the court, but all that time I got to learn. I got to learn Coach Coale and the way she is. A lot of the times I know what she wants before she even says it. Also, just watching the Big 12 play, I know the Big 12 like it is the back of my hand.”

On the team:
“My favorite thing is that we only have nine people to go to. That has been awesome. Being able to connect with them on and off the court better has been great. Our big thing this year is everyone's willingness to do the next, right thing.”

On applying lessons from last year:
“I think last year we had a great attitude and mindset going into the season. It's a long year. I think the biggest thing is continuing that, continuing being accountable. We have a lot of standards and just really holding those throughout the whole year.”

SENIOR GUARD GABBI ORTIZ

On confidence:
“My confidence is in a good place. I've kind of slid into a different role. Being point guard for the past three years, I didn't shoot the ball that much or didn't have those options. But now that I am the go-to person and shooter, I know that I have to be there and I know my role is to knock down the shot. With the amount of reps that I have put into the offseason, I feel confident doing it. It feels easy coming off my hand. I'm ready to shoot the ball and have fun.”

On shooting the ball:
“In the past, I could've been more aggressive. I know I want to focus on that whether it be focusing on my shot or always being constantly ready. If my hands and feet are ready, I know it's going to go in. When I'm shooting on my own, I don't have to think about it. That's how confident I am at this point. In practice and in games it has gotten to the point where when I miss, I know exactly why. If I'm in rhythm with hands and feet ready, I'm in a good spot.”

REDSHIRT JUNIOR GUARD GILEYSA PENZO

On practice so far:
“It's been great. We have been learning a lot. Our main focus has been rebounding and defense. We have been focusing on those two things a lot. We've been doing a lot of chunking defense and rebounding. I feel like we are getting for physical and our feet are more active. Our offense has been great. We have a great rhythm.”

On ner goals for the season:
“Personally, for me I just want to go out there and do what I do best. My thing this year is to use my gifts. I just want to use my gifts to help my teammates. My role on the team is to deliver. I'm a good passer so I want to deliver the ball where it has to be when it has to be there and to the right people. I'm trying to use my gifts as a positive benefit for the team.”