OU women's basketball: Sooners to host defending champs Texas A&M
The OU women’s basketball team finds itself in the midst of another challenging matchup at 7 tonight when the defending national champions, the No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies come to Norman.
Ben Williams, The Oklahoma Daily
Freshman Kaylon Williams goes up for the block against Kansas State on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. The Sooners host defending national champion Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, at Lloyd Noble Center.
KEY OPPONENT
Tyra White
Year: Senior
Position: Guard
Hometown:Kansas City, Mo.
Season stats: White is leading the Aggies with 13.2 points per game.
The Sooners are coming off a hard-fought loss to Iowa State on Saturday and will look to their guards to bounce back.
The Sooners are led by their starting guards, junior Whitney Hand (12.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and sophomores Morgan Hook (10.5 ppg, 3.9 apg) and Aaryn Ellenberg (14.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg).
The Aggies have four starters averaging double digits, senior guards Sydney Carter (11.2 ppg) and Tyra White (13.6 ppg), senior forward Adaora Elonu (11.8 ppg) and junior center Kelsey Bone (12.4 ppg).
Ellenberg, after struggling, especially from deep, for several games, has come on as of late after strong performances at home against Kansas State and on the road against Iowa State.
“It was creating the offense when we were just trading back and forth. She was fresh,” coach Sherri Coale said following the team’s win over Kansas State. “She wasn’t exhausted. She hadn’t been out there for 40 minutes. And I thought you could really tell that she had a little different spring in her step that a lot of Kansas State players, and our guys, too, that had played a long time, didn’t have.”
Coale felt like letting Ellenberg come off the bench and have a chance to see the pace of the game helped her get out of her slump. Another Sooner who has been coming off the bench lately is sophomore center Nicole Griffin.
Griffin will be coming off the bench for the Sooners for the third consecutive game against A&M. OU will look to her to give them a boost, as she had a season-high, 14-point performance in the loss to Iowa State.
This game marks the last between the two squads before A&M departs for the SEC next season.
The Sooners fell to the Aggies by a 17-point margin when the two teams played the first time this season on Jan. 8 in College Station.
The key for OU will be to control the ball. Aggies’ opponents are averaging 21.1 turnovers per game.
That allows Texas A&M to win games despite averaging just 42 percent from the field, 28 percent from beyond 3-point arc and 66 percent from the charity stripe.
Keeping the turnovers down will be vital for the Sooners to notch a win.
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