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Sooners To Compete In Fort Myers Tip-Off
July 11, 2023 | Women's Basketball
NORMAN – The Oklahoma women's basketball team will compete in the second annual Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off this season, slotting the Sooners vs. two teams, Princeton and Tennessee, that made the NCAA Tournament in 2023.
The event, hosted by Intersport at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Fla., Nov. 23-25, will showcase eight teams split into two separate pods. The Sooners will compete in the Island Division, taking on Princeton at 2 p.m. CT on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23) and then the Lady Vols at 12:30 p.m. CT on Nov. 25.
The defending Big 12 champion Sooners' matchup vs. Princeton is slated to be one of OU's marquee non-conference showdowns. The Tigers went 24-6 last year, winning the Ivy League and punching their 10th ticket to the NCAA Tournament in the previous 12 years. They knocked off No. 7-seeded North Carolina State in the first round before falling to No. 2 Utah in the second round. The game will mark the first time the two teams have ever met.
The Sooners' second matchup vs. Tennessee will prove to be one of the top non-conference matchups nationally of the 2023-24 season. The eight-time national champion Lady Vols compiled a 25-12 record last season en route to the Sweet 16. Oklahoma is 1-5 all-time vs. Tennessee, with the Sooners' lone win coming in 2009 when Courtney Paris' NCAA record 112-game double-double streak ended, but the Sooners knocked off UT 80-70. The 2023 meeting will mark the first since the teams met in the Sweet 16 of the 2013 tournament a decade ago.
"We're excited to build on the momentum of a very successful inaugural year of the Elevance Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off by doubling the number of participating teams and adding a network television broadcast for what should be one of the top college basketball games of the young 2023-24 season," said Mark Starsiak, vice president of basketball at Intersport and the Tip-Off event director. "The collection of programs set to participate in this year's event will make the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off one of the top early-season showcases in the sport."
Oklahoma will try to build off a successful 2022-23 campaign that saw the program deliver its first regular season Big 12 title since 2009 en route to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth under Baranczyk. Led by veterans Nevaeh Tot, Liz Scott and two-time Big 12 Sixth Player Award winner Skylar Vann, the Sooners seek their third 25-win season in a row. Payton Verhulst, a transfer from Louisville who was touted as a top-10 prospect in high school, and transfer Lexy Keys, who started 88 games in three seasons at Oklahoma State, will bolster an already formidable roster. Five-star freshman and McDonald's All-American Sahara Williams along with Oklahoma Super 5 member Landry Allen of Tuttle round out the newcomer class.
The Sooners' games in Florida build on a tough non-conference slate that already features a previously-announced matchup with North Carolina at the Jumpman Invitational on Dec. 20 in Charlotte, N.C. Oklahoma's full non-conference schedule will be released at a later date.
Travel packages for the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting www.womensfortmyerstipoff.com/travel. The Westin Cape Coral and Marina Village (Shell Division) and the Marriott Sanibel Harbor (Island Division) are the event's host hotels. Additionally, the Luminary Hotel & Co., a boutique hotel that opened in September 2020, is a premium destination to enjoy the many attractions of historic and lively downtown Fort Myers. Ticket-only packages will become available in September.
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