Claremore Daily Progress

Sports

January 9, 2013

BIG 12 WBB: Sooner guard Campbell playing with more confidence

CLAY HORNING CNHI News Services

NORMAN — The Oklahoma women are playing very well right now. The winners of four straight games, they’ve opened the conference season with a pair of wins over quality programs, West Virginia and Texas.



Further, it has all happened after senior guard, captain and the longtime pulse of the team, Whitney Hand, became the fourth Sooner and third starter to be lost for the season to injury.



Tonight, in Forth Worth, 16th-ranked OU (12-2, 2-0 Big 12) will try to make it five straight victories when it visits TCU (7-6, 0-2) inside Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.



Sophomore guard Sharane Campbell can’t take a lot of credit for the first of those four wins, a 70-46 victory over Cal-Riverside, but she’s clearly been in the middle of the last three and perhaps the leader of the last two.



“I have more confidence now, I guess,” Campbell said. “I guess each game I’m just getting a little better.”



Prior to meeting Cal-State Northridge, Campbell was averaging 5.6 points and 3.3 rebounds. She was also getting to the free-throw line for an average 3.3 attempts per game. Since, over her last three games, Campbell has averaged 17 points, 6.7 rebounds and 8.3 free-throw attempts. Also, after missing her first 13 3-point attempts of the season, Campbell has made 6 of 11 from long range.



Two games ago, Campbell scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against West Virginia. Last time out, she got Texas for 24 points.



“I think it’s extra attention to details,” junior guard and Sooner leading scorer Aaryn Ellenberg said. “She’s been in the gym before practice and after working on left-hand drives or things she’s not as good at. So little things like that are making a difference.”



Campbell confirms she’s getting to practice early and staying late to work on developing her left hand and that it came in very handy against Texas.



Still, equally or more important than improving a singular part of her game may be the attitude behind putting in the extra work. That attitude has led to better practices and better full-court play.



“I think she’s realized that she can’t have those days in practice anymore where we have to pull her in to get her to give energy and stuff,” point guard Morgan Hook said.



It is part of the Sooners’ all-hands-on-deck approach. Senior forward Joanna McFarland is another player who has raised her game. Now, Campbell’s doing it, too.



“Now, I don’t have any choice,” she said. “I have to do this work.”



That kind of attitude hasn’t only helped her on the offensive end of the floor.



If she’s not playing defense, Sooner coach Sherri Coale wouldn’t be in a position to keep her on the floor, but Campbell has logged 31, 30 and 38 minutes her last three games after playing less than 30 in the previous 11 (and 20 or less in eight of the previous 11).



It has all worked out well for Campbell and her team.



“When she’s playing like that, we have scorers at every position and it’s OK for anybody to have the ball in their hands,” Hook said. “It gives all of us more confidence knowing anybody could be a threat.”

Text Only
Sports
  • DSC_9471web.jpg Howe, Whatley shine at OU Showcase

    Claremore High School seniors Bryce Howe and Matt Whatley caught the eyes of several NCAA Division I and JUCO scouts Friday in Norman.
    Howe and Whatley, as well as Claremore’s Cole Weiesnbach and Cameron Smith, competed with the Bearcats — a competitive baseball team coached by Jenks’ Jeff Owens — at the University of Oklahoma Showcase.

    June 15, 2013 2 Photos

  • DSC_0119web.jpg ‘Staying close to home’

    Home is where the heart is.
    Claremore graduate Isaac Hollihan loves playing baseball and takes his academics pretty serious.
    For the next four years, Hollihan will continue his baseball career a short distance from his Claremore residence at Rogers State University.

    June 13, 2013 2 Photos

  • TRACK: Tyson Gay healthy heading into nationals

    For a little bit, Tyson Gay's first step tearing down the track made him wince and his next made him wonder: Would he ever be the same sprinter again?
    The runner who captured three gold medals at the 2007 world championships. The runner who broke the American 100-meter record in 2009.

    June 18, 2013

  • Texas Longhorns men's track coach retires

    Texas men's track coach Bubba Thornton is retiring after 18 years and 12 conference championships.
    According to a statement from the school on Monday, Thornton and athletic director DeLoss Dodds mutually agreed to terminate the coach's contract effective Aug. 31. The Longhorns won this year's Big 12 indoor and outdoor championships and finished sixth at the NCAA outdoor championships.

    June 18, 2013

  • Daytona frontstretch getting $400M facelift

    Daytona International Speedway is getting another facelift, this one considerably bigger than the last.
    Three years after a complete repaving project, the famed track is overhauling the frontstretch to enhance the "fan experience.''

    June 18, 2013

  • STANLEY CUP NOTEBOOK: Rough ice affects play in Game 3

    Teams try to avoid risky plays in the postseason that they might try in the regular season. And when the ice surface isn't smooth, even greater care is necessary.
    Boston took that approach with less-than-ideal ice conditions during its 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks that gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night.

    June 18, 2013

  • STANLEY CUP: Rask shuts down Blackhawks, Bruins take 2-1 lead

    The puck bounced off the post and rolled across the crease, away from the goal line. The red light flashed briefly, but replays would confirm that Tuukka Rask's shutout streak was intact.
    For the last 122 minutes, 26 seconds of the Stanley Cup finals, the Bruins goalie has prevented Chicago from scoring.

    June 18, 2013

  • New $15M scoreboards planned for Jazz arena

    Owners of EnergySolutions Arena are upgrading the home turf of the Utah Jazz with a new $15 million scoreboard system.

    June 18, 2013

  • NBA FINALS: Heat have no room for error versus Spurs in Game 6

    They lost three times in three months in one of the most overpowering stretches the NBA has ever seen.
    Now the Miami Heat have lost three times in five games.
    So superb during the regular season, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Heat have to be something even more for the rest of the NBA Finals.

    June 18, 2013

  • NBA FINALS: Spurs' coach puts 'Pop' into news conferences

    During his team's Game 3 rout of the Heat, Gregg Popovich was shown on TV talking to his players while they were in the process of burying Miami with a stirring offensive display.

    June 18, 2013