Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Take On Kansas In Big 12 Tourney
March 05, 2001 | Cowgirl Basketball
March 5, 2001
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COWGIRLS FACE JAYHAWKS IN FIRST ROUND OF BIG 12 TOURNAMENT
Oklahoma State (14-13 overall, 6-10 Big 12) will play the Kansas Jayhawks (11-16, 5-11) at noon on Tuesday, March 6, in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. OSU enters the tournament as the No. 8 seed, while KU is listed as the No. 9 seed. The Cowgirls are coming off a 77-66 win over the Nebraska Huskers last week in Stillwater, while the Jayhawks are fresh off a 75-62 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies last week in College Station. OSU defeated Kansas, 61-53, earlier this season in Stillwater.
COMING UP
The winner of the OSU-KU game will face the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma Sooners on Wednesday, March 7 at noon. The Cowgirls have lost twice to OU this season, 76-47 in Stillwater and 88-83 in overtime in Norman. Should OSU make it past Oklahoma, it would play on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the semifinals of the tournament. The tournament final is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10.
LAST TIME OUT
Jessica Bates picked up her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Cowgirls defeated the Nebraska Huskers, 77-66, in the final game of the regular season for both teams. Chantoya Hawkins led the Cowgirls with 16 points. Kara Faulk added 14 points for fifth-straight double-figure scoring game. Terrisha Osborn chipped in 10 points, including eight from the free-throw line. Oklahoma State went to the charity stripe a season-high 45 times, and converted on 37 of those for an 80 percent shooting night. Nebraska was called for 30 fouls in the game and had four players foul out. OSU also forced 27 Husker turnovers which led to 31 points on the Cowgirl end of the court. NU did shoot 42.6 percent from the floor, but went to the line just 17 times, connecting on 11. Shannon Howell led the Huskers with 16 points, while Stephanie Jones chipped in 14. NU's 6-5 Casey Leonhardt, the team leader at 13.4 points per game, was limited to just four points and fouled out.
FAULK EARNS HONORABLE MENTION ALL-BIG 12 HONORS
Cowgirl junior Kara Faulk received honorable mention honors on the All-Big 12 list, it was announced Friday by the conference office. The 5-11 forward from Sapulpa, Okla., averaged 11.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in the regular season, leading the team in both categories. She also shot 41.4 percent from behind the three-point arc and 82.1 percent from the free-throw line, both team highs.
FOUR NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12
Oklahoma State had three players named first-team Academic All-Big 12, including two three-time honorees. Kara Faulk was named first team for the third-consecutive season, while senior Devon Magness was named first-team for the second time in three seasons. Sophomore Shelby Hutchens was named to the first team for the first time, while junior Jessica Spinner was named to the second team for her first academic accolade. It is the sixth-straight year that the Cowgirls have had at least three first-team honorees.
RELEFORD MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE AFTER BATTLE WITH CANCER
Cowgirl senior Toya Releford made her first appearsnce since winning her battle with cancer in the final game of the regular season. Toya played four minutes vs. Nebraska, her first action since the tour of Australia last May. Toya had two major surgeries in August to remove cervical cancer, and followed that up with five weeks of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. She returned to practice in mid-January, and made her first appearance last Wednesday night.
TOUGH ROAD DOWN THE STRETCH
Oklahoma State lost three of its last four games, but figure this ... in those three losses, OSU lost by an average of four points, including two games that went into overtime. Two of the three games were on the road, two were against ranked teams, and the three teams have a combined record of 62-23.
BIG 12 RANKINGS
Cowgirl junior Kara Faulk ranks 22nd in the Big 12 in scoring, averaging 11.6 points per game. She also ranks seventh in rebounding at 7.9 boards per game. Kara has the sixth-best free-throw shooting percentage in the conference at 82.1 percent. Junior Jessica Bates is ninth in the league in field-goal percentage, shooting 51.4 percent. Junior Jessica Spinner and sophomore Chantoya Hawkins are 14th and 15th, respectively, in three-pointers made per game.
OSU-KU SERIES
Kansas leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 24-16, although the Cowgirls won the only meeting this season, a 61-53 victory in Stillwater. The Jayhawks have won eight of the last nine meetings. The series was 16-15 KU until 1995. The series between the two schools in the conference tournament is tied at 3-3, with Kansas winning the only meeting in the Big 12 Conference tournament, a 59-53 win in 1999. A complete list of the all-time series can be found elsewhere in the game-notes packet.
INJURIES SET IN
Oklahoma State has had its share of injuries this season. Currently out is junior guard Mandy Stuber, who torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in the game at Oklahoma on Feb. 24. She also broke her nose earlier in the same contest. Redshirt freshman Leah Wahlgren is day-to-day after suffering a separated shoulder in the game at Iowa State on Feb. 7. Sophomore Timeka Beason has a sprained thumb, as does junior guard Jessica Spinner. Junior Kara Faulk is playing despite a back injury that she suffered in the Texas A&M game in College Station. Freshman Trisha Skibbe suffered a severe ankle sprain in practice prior to the Texas game in Stillwater and reinjured it prior to the Nebraska game.
TRAGEDY STRIKES
Its been a trying year for the Oklahoma State women's basketball team. Prior to the start of the season, both Terrisha Osborn and Machell Roberts lost immediate family members as Terrisha's brother was killed in a car accident as was Machell's father. Mandy Stuber's father passed away following the Kansas game in Stillwater on Jan. 17 of complicated due to pneumonia. Ten days later, the entire team was hit hard by the tragic plane crash that killed 10 members of the OSU men's basketball program.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
COWGIRL ATTENDANCE RANKS 43rd NATIONALLY
Oklahoma State had 18,609 fans come through the turnstiles in the nine games in Gallagher-Iba Arena, an average of 2,068 fans per game. It was bolstered mostly by a showing of 5,092 fans at the Oklahoma game on Feb. 10. That total was the third-most in Gallagher-Iba Arena history for a women's basketball game, and the sixth-most to ever watch a women's bedlam game in the state of Oklahoma. The average this season ranks OSU 43rd nationally in unofficial attendance this season. Texas Tech is the Big 12 leader and ranks second nationally with 12,770 fans per contest. Iowa State is second in the league and fourth nationally at 11,268.
COWGIRLS IN THE RPI
Oklahoma State is ranked 48th in the Ratings Percentage Index published by College Basketball News on March 5. The Cowgirls' schedule-strength rank (16th) is the fourth-toughest in the league behind Nebraska (ninth), Oklahoma (10th) and Texas Tech (15th).
COACH DICK HALTERMAN
Dick Halterman is entering his 18th season as the head coach for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls, and brings with him a 315-216 career mark at OSU. Halterman has guided the Cowgirls to eight postseason appearances in the last 12 years, including seven NCAA Tournament appearances (last in 1996) and one Women's NIT appearance (1998). Under Halterman, 13 Cowgirls have been named first-team all-conference, while 31 student-athletes have achieved first-team academic all-conference status. He is a two-time conference Coach of the Year, and was the District V Coach of the Year in 1991. Halterman has taken two conference All-Star teams abroad, including August of 1999, when he led the Big 12 All-Stars on a tour of Finland and Sweden. That team finished with a 5-1 record. Here is a look at Halterman's year-by-year coaching record at Oklahoma State.
COWGIRL BASKETBALL ON THE AIR
Once again during the 2000-01 season, Oklahoma State's basketball games will be broadcast live on KGFY-105.5 FM in Stillwater. Kevin Gum, in his 11th season with the Cowgirl broadcast, will handle play-by-play duties, while Casey Kendrick, in his sixth season on the air, will provide color analysis. For the first time, Cowgirl Basketball will be part of the OSU Radio Network. Member stations will provide statewide broadcasts of as many as 10 games throughout the season. Fans unable to pick up the over-the-air broadcast will be able to listen to the games via the internet at www.okstate.com. Broadcasts will begin 15 minutes prior to tipoff with pregame analysis, as well as interviews with Coach Halterman and various Cowgirl players.
HALTERMAN ON RADIO/TV
During the 2000-01 season, fans can catch up with the Cowgirl head coach on both the radio and television. The Coach Halterman Radio Show will be broadcast on KSPI-93.7 FM in Stillwater on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. The Coach Halterman Television Show will be broadcast Fridays and Saturdays in Stillwater, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Woodward, as well as on College Sports Southeast regionally. A schedule of airtimes follows. Casey Kendrick, program manager at KWEM, will host both the radio and television shows.
CAPTAINS
Juniors Kara Faulk and Nikki Lawrence were voted on as the captains for the 2000-01 season. Faulk, from Sapulpa, Okla., is in her third year with the program, while Lawrence, a native of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is in her first season at Oklahoma State.
