Paris makes altitude adjustment, ready to lead Oklahoma against BYU

3/19/2006 2:12 PM

So far the closest thing to stopping Oklahoma freshman forward Courtney Paris has been the mountain air of the sub-regional site.

Now that she has adjusted, Paris tries to lead the second-seeded Sooners to the round of 16 Monday when they play No. 7 seed Brigham Young in the second round of the San Antonio Regional at Denver.

Paris, who has been arguably the best women's college basketball freshman in the nation this season, inadvertently drank too much water as she tried to get acclimated to Denver's thin air. After substituting herself out of the game to take care of some queasiness, Paris totaled 27 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes Saturday to lead Oklahoma (30-4) to a 78-66 first-round win over Pepperdine.

``Before the game I started feeling like I was gagging,'' Paris said. ``I had to throw up. I went to the back, got it taken care of, and when I came out it was gone.''

Paris also became the first player to total 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a season in NCAA women's history. The powerful forward also set the single-season Big 12 record for points, passing Texas' Edwina Brown.

``Her play was similar to how it has gone all season. There was a lot of single coverage,'' Sooners coach Sherri Coale said. ``She is such a dominate presence. She shot her free throws well today. Even the ones that she missed, she shot better. She had a pretty good night...or lunch.''

Paris also is 27 rebounds shy of setting the single-season NCAA record, established by Wanda Ford with 534 in the 1984-85 season.

The win extended Oklahoma's winning streak to a school-record 18 games and marked the second 30-win season in school history. The Sooners have not been to the regional semifinals since losing to Connecticut in the 2002 championship game.

BYU (26-5) advanced with a 67-62 win Friday over 10th-seeded Iowa. Ambrosia Anderson, who likely will get the task of trying to slow Paris, had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Cougars.

``This was a nice win for this team,'' head coach Jeff Judkins said. ``We're very excited. I thought a lot of players helped us win tonight. Everyone came in and made a real nice effort.

The Cougars made 10 3-pointers, including a crucial pair from reserve Vanessa Hutson, whose consecutive shots from beyond the arc rebuilt BYU's lead from seven to 13 points midway through the second half.

``The three-point shot obviously has a big impact,'' Cougars point guard Melinda Johnsen said. ``It can really turn around a game. Vanessa's three pointers off the bench were huge. When we have that kind of bench power, it's going to be tough to beat us.''

Anderson averages 18.0 points and 7.5 rebounds for BYU, which has won 16 of 18 games at road or neutral sites. The Cougars have not been to the round of 16 since 2002, Judkins' first season at BYU.

Oklahoma leads the all-time series 2-1 and posted an 86-81 win in the most recent game, which came in the first round of the 2000 NCAA tournament.

The winner of this game will play either No. 3 seed Stanford or sixth-seeded Florida State in San Antonio on March 25.