Five Sooners Earn All-Big 12 Recognition

Five University of Oklahoma women’s basketball players earned recognition as the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Awards were announced Wednesday by the conference office.

Redshirt senior guard Peyton Little and junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors, while redshirt senior guard Maddie Manning and junior guard Gabbi Ortiz claimed All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selections. Freshman Chelsea Dungee was named to the All-Big 12 Freshmen Team.

The honors were voted on by the league’s head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.

Little ranks fifth in the conference in steals per game (1.8) and ninth in minutes played (33.2). The redshirt senior finished the regular season second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points a contest and leads the Sooners with 43 made 3-pointers this year.

This year, Little became the 32nd player in OU history to score 1,000 career points as a Sooner. It is third straight season that the Abilene, Texas, native has earned an All-Big 12 selection.

Pierre-Louis averaged a career-best 12.0 points per game this season and was eighth in the Big 12 with 7.9 rebounds a contest. During league play, the junior logged 14.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, which ranked eighth in both categories. Her nine double-doubles are the most by an OU player since the 2012-13 season and are tied for the third most by a Big 12 play this year.

Pierre-Louis, who was the 2016 Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, recorded 58 blocks this year, which ranks as the eighth most by an OU player in single-season history.

Manning enjoyed her most productive season yet at Oklahoma, leading the Sooners in scoring average at 12.7 points a game and ranking second on the team with 5.3 rebounds per outing. The Ankeny, Iowa, native leads the Big 12 in steals per game (2.1) and is fifth in the conference in 3-point shooting percentage (.411) heading into the postseason. The all-conference recognition marked the first of Manning’s career.

Ortiz found her groove in Big 12 play, averaging 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game against league foes. The junior led the Big 12 in assist-turnover ratio (2.8) during conference play, while ranking seventh in free throw percentage (.828) and 3-point shooting percentage (.368). The Racine, Wis., native leads OU with 111 assists this year and closed the regular season by scoring in double figures 11 times over the last 15 games.

Dungee became the eighth OU freshman to earn a selection to the Big 12’s All-Freshmen Team, joining an impressive list: Gabbi Ortiz (2015), Sharane Campbell (2012), Aaryn Ellenberg (2011), Whitney Hand (2009), Danielle Robinson (2008), Amanda Thompson (2007) and Courtney Paris (2006). The Sapulpa, Okla., native made 16 starts during the regular season, averaging 7.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest, while shooting .368 from the field and .800 at the free throw line.

The Sooners open the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship on Saturday as the No. 3 seed. Oklahoma will take on No. 6 seed West Virginia at 8:30 p.m. CT inside Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.