Sooners on the Road Wednesday

NORMAN – The Oklahoma women's basketball team is on the road again Wednesday to face Western Kentucky. The game will tip at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

ON THE AIR

The contest will air on KREF 99.3 FM/1400 AM in Norman and KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City (Tune In Radio App) with Brian Brinkley on the call. The game will air on ESPN+.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• OU heads to Western Kentucky Wednesday for its second straight road contest. The game will tip at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+ and will mark the third meeting between the Sooners and Lady Toppers in program history. OU leads the all-time series 2-0.

• Sophomore guard Taylor Robertson was named Big 12 Co-Player of the Week for Dec. 2, marking OU's first conference weekly award this season and the fifth of Robertson's career. Robertson registered back-to-back 20-plus point performances last week as she scored team-highs against Abilene Christian (21) and Wichita State (30) with a career-high nine 3-pointers against the Shockers.

• Robertson has become the NCAA's active career leader in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 48.8% (144-for-298) from deep in just two years of her career. Robertson is the youngest member of the 10-player list; the nine other players are juniors and seniors.

• A trio of Sooners are averaging points in double figures through seven games. Robertson leads the OU squad with 19.7, while Ana Llanusa is not far behind 1ith 19.1 and Madi Williams accounts for 14.0. All three players have scored in double figures in six of OU's seven contests this season.

• Three Big 12 players have had 30-point performances this season and two of them are Sooners. Llanusa was the first league player to achieve the feat when she dropped 30 against Missouri State on Nov. 14, while Robertson recorded 30 at Wichita State on Nov. 30.

RECAPPING WICHITA STATE

Playing just 60 miles from her hometown of McPherson, Kansas, Robertson scored a career-high 30 points and knocked down nine 3-pointers, also a career high, Saturday as the Sooners narrowly fell to Wichita State 88-83. With 15 seconds remaining in the game, Robertson hit her ninth and final three of the night before the Shockers turned the ball over and Ana Llanusa drained another three to bring the Sooners within one at 84-83 Wichita State. The effort fell just short as the Shockers capitalized on freethrows and scored again in the final seconds to win 88-83.

Three more Sooners joined Robertson in double figures as Llanusa had 19 and Madi Williams and Gabby Gregorychipped in 13 apiece. Williams was just shy of a double-double, finishing with a team-high eight rebounds.

ROBERTSON NAMED BIG 2 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Robertson earned her fifth career Big 12 weekly award Monday as she was named Big 12 Co-Player of the Week. Robertson shared the award with Texas Tech senior forward Brittany Brewer to garner the first conference award for the Sooners this season.

Robertson registered back-to-back 20-plus point performances last week, as she scored team-highs against Abilene Christian (21) and Wichita State (30). Against ACU, Robertson hit seven 3-pointers, going 7-for-12 (58.35) from beyond the arc, then followed that performance up with a career-high nine 3s at Wichita State to match a school record.

T-ROB TREY TRACKER

Robertson has become the NCAA's active career leader in 3-point field goal percentage as she shot 48.8% (144-for-298) in just two years. Robertson is the youngest member of the 10-player list, which is comprised of juniors and seniors (including 2019 Wooden Award Winner Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon, a senior who ranks 7th on the list). Robertson is shooting 53.4% (39-for-73) from deep this season.

The sophomore also sits atop the national rankings for both made 3s (39) and 3s per game (5.57) this season. She is averaging the most 3s per game of any player in men's or women's Division I basketball; Aaron Nesmith of Vanderbilt is the men's 3s per game leader and is averaging 4.86. Robertson is also averaging more 3s per game and a better 3-point field goal percentage (53.4%) than the leading NBA player; James Harden (Houston) accounts for 4.9 per game and is shooting 35.5% from deep.

Robertson leads the Big 12 in 3-pointers this season (39), with 19 more than the next closest players (Kysre Gondrezick of West Virginia and K-State's Christiana Carr have hit 20 each). Robertson also sits atop the national rankings for both made 3s and 3s per game (5.57).

As a team, OU has hit 65 3-pointers this season; Robertson accounts for more than half of those. Robertson has made more treys than 148 teams in DI women's basketball this season.

Additionally, Robertson's nine made 3s at Wichita State tie for the most in a single game in women's Division I basketball this season and are one shy of the men's 2019-20 Division I single game record of 10.

BOARD WOMAN

Sophomore guard/forward Williams is averaging 11.0 rebounds per game to lead the Sooners. Her 66 rebounds on the season are more than double the next closest player (Llanusa has 32). Williams has had double-digit rebounds in four of OU's six contests this season with 11 in the Sooners' last contest with Abilene Christian (Nov. 26). Williams had 13 each against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 8) and UAB (Nov. 10) and 16 against SFA (Nov. 20) to match her career high.The Fort Worth, Texas product is tied for 22nd nationally in rebounds per game (11.0).

Additionally, Williams recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Prairie View A&M (14 pts/13 reb) and UAB (24 pts/13 reb). Williams was OU's last player to record consecutive double-doubles as she achieved the feat last season. Williams logged 20 points and 10 rebounds at SMU (Dec. 22, 2018) and posted 10 points and 11 rebounds against Texas Tech at home (Jan. 2, 2019). Williams' most recent double-double - good for her third this season - was against Abilene Christian (Nov. 26) when she tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds.

PREVIEWING WESTERN KENTUCKY

Western Kentucky enters Wednesday's game at 5-2 overall. In their last contest the Lady Toppers dropped an overtime thriller at St. Mary's 80-73. WKU came back from a 16-point deficit to force overtime against the home team but fell just short. Raneem Elgedawy was one point shy of her career high with 27 points and picked up 13 boards. Three more Lady Toppers scored in double figures as Whitney Creech had 20 points; Dee Givens chipped in 14 and Meral Abdelgawad added 10.

Three WKU players are averaging points in double figures through seven contests. Elgedawy leads the team with 16.3 and 11.0 rebounds per game; Creech is right behind with an average 16.0 points per game, and Givens accounts for 14.9 and 5.3 rebounds.

The Sooners last clashed with the Lady Toppers on Nov. 9, 2018 in Norman, prevailing 90-83 in the season opener. In their OU debuts, then-freshmen Taylor Robertson added in 24 points off the bench; Tatum Veitenheimer chipped in 11 points and five steals; and Madi Williams recorded her first career double-double, finishing with 15 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in the win. Williams became the first OU freshman since Courtney Paris (2005-06, vs. SMU) to have at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks in a game.

QUICK HITS

The Sooners will be tested early and often during their 14-game non-conference schedule. OU's non-conference slate features at least seven matchups with teams that appeared in the postseason a year ago including three NCAA Tournament teams (Abilene Christian, Drake and UConn).
OU is the only team in the Big 12 without a senior on its roster. The Sooners will be one of two league teams (Texas Tech) that will return three players who averaged at least 10.0 points per game. Llanusa (18.3), Robertson (14.3) and Williams (11.6) all averaged scoring in double figures during the 2018-19 season.
Assistant coach Stiles was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2016 in the same class as head coach Coale. Oklahoma joins Connecticut as the only Division I women's basketball programs with two WBHOF inductees on their coaching staff.

UP NEXT

OU returns to Norman for a three-game homestand beginning with LSU on Dec. 7 in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. The game will tip at 3 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Oklahoma.

The Sooners will host Sam Houston State on Dec. 15, followed by Drake Dec. 17 before closing out nonconference play at UConn on Dec. 22.

ON THE AIR

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

RECAPPING WICHITA STATE

ROBERTSON NAMED BIG 2 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

T-ROB TREY TRACKER

BOARD WOMAN

PREVIEWING WESTERN KENTUCKY

QUICK HITS

UP NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gabby Gregory

Ana Llanusa

Taylor Robertson

Tatum Veitenheimer

Madi Williams

Sponsors

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