Cowgirls, Sooners Ready to Hit Hardwood

It’s November and it’s time to get the always competitive Big 12 women’s basketball campaign underway. The first slate of games for the conference starts up Tuesday night with Oklahoma State, TCU and defending National Champion Baylor tipping their seasons off.

Oklahoma will get its season underway on Friday when they take on Prairie View A&M. The Cowgirls will have two games in by that time. Tuesday night they host Idaho at 7 and they play a midday 11am game on Friday against Lamar.

The Bedlam rivals found themselves stacked right on top of each other when the preseason poll came out a few weeks ago. OSU was ranked sixth with 39 votes with OU right behind in seventh with 34 votes.

Both squads enter the season hoping to bounce back after last season when both missed any type of postseason play and a pair of small forwards will be the leaders.

For the Cowgirls, Vivian Gray returns for her junior season as one of the only 20+ point scorers in the conference in addition to her ability on the defensive end of the floor. Coming off an All-American campaign a season ago, Gray was a sure-fire selection for the Cheryl Miller Award watchlist.

Joining Gray on that list is OU’s talented junior Ana Llanusa. The junior from Choctaw has had a great career to this point and looks to lead the Sooners’ front court with her ability to score the basketball. Both Llanusa and Gray were also selections to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.

The Sooners also had a preseason selection to the Anne Meyers Drysdale Award watchlist in Taylor Robertson. The award goes to the nation’s top shooting guard.