HOOP: What was it like cheering for a first-year team last season?
Riane: It was very exciting, but incredibly overwhelming. Not only had I never been on a professional dance team before, but also this team was new. There weren’t really any veterans and in the beginning we had to figure out what we wanted the dance team to [represent]. It was a learning process, and we learned something new every game. I grew a lot from that first season.

HOOP: Are you originally from Oklahoma?
Riane: Yes, Oklahoma City.

HOOP: Did you go to school there?
Riane: Yes, I went to elementary school, middle school and high school here, and I currently attend the University of Oklahoma.

HOOP: So you must have been pretty down when Sam Bradford got injured.
Riane: Yeah. College football is huge here. My boyfriend forces me to watch. The campus is a depressing place to be after we lose games. [laughs]

HOOP: A lot of NBA dance teams revolve routines around hip-hop music; in Oklahoma City do you incorporate more Midwestern themes?
Riane: Oh yeah. [laughs] It’s kind of funny, sometimes we do country songs with cowboy hats or denim shorts and bandanas, and people go crazy for those dances. Sometimes we’ll do a really popular song and people don’t really respond as much to those mainstream songs as the country songs.

HOOP: What was it like in the arena for that first game as a dancer and for the franchise?
Riane: It was amazing. There was so much build up the month before that game happened. The AC/DC song “Thunderstruck” was playing and we had trench coats on and revealed our uniforms on the court, they announced our names… it was awesome. I was so glad I got to be a part of the team in the first season. That’s a part of Oklahoma’s history now.

HOOP: Do you think professional basketball has found a niche in the area, or are people still warming up to the NBA in such a football-crazed state?
Riane: I definitely think college football is still the big one, but being from a state where they’re such avid sports fans in general, it’s really crossed-over to basketball. It united the state. Normally it’s OU [Oklahoma] vs. OSU [Oklahoma State], and the Thunder are a unifying team.

HOOP: What is a dancer’s diet for a pregame meal?
Riane: We have healthy stuff, but we also have a catering company that brings us food. A lot of times it’s just sandwiches, but sometimes there’s some pretty weird stuff. One game we had lasagna, one game we had chili. We try to follow a diet, but sometimes you need a sugar rush before a game. [laughs]

HOOP: How do you balance the schedule of a student and a professional dancer?
Riane: It was really hard last year since I didn’t know I was going to be on the team and my school schedule was already set. This year it was a lot easier. I have class three days a week, so I have downtime to study the days I don’t have class, and I have an online class.

HOOP: Do you think a salary cap is good for the NBA?
Riane: I think it’s good, it definitely makes the game fairer. It helps out the small market teams like Oklahoma City. Since we’re starting out, it helps level the playing field compared to teams with richer histories and a wider fan base.

HOOP: How long have you been dancing?
I’ve been dancing since I was four years old. In high school I was in pom squad for three years and a co-captain. It’s been a long time.

HOOP: What interested you as a child about dance?
Well, my mom made me when I was like four years old. [laughs] Sometimes I would hate going and cry, but when I was about 14 I really began to love it and realized it was something I could potentially do for the rest of my life. That’s when my passion for dance really began.

HOOP: Any styles you particularly like?
I love everything. I like Jazz a little bit more… hip-hop is a little harder for me to get into. I was trained technically in ballet, but once I get hip-hop, I love it.

HOOP: What are you studying at Oklahoma?
My major is Letters, which is kind of like Humanities—philosophy, literature, and history. I’m planning on going to Law school.

HOOP: Are you involved in any dance or cheer teams at OU?
No, I think that it worked out though. [laughs]

HOOP: How did you find out about the Thunder Girls tryouts?
There had been rumors that the franchise was moving here the year before, so it was always in the back of my mind. My cousin texted me one day that she heard on the radio that they were having tryouts. Having someone else telling me to tryout made me actually believe I could do it. It was sort of spontaneous and had no idea what to expect. But I guess I did something right. [laughs]

HOOP: How many girls were at the tryout?
The first tryout, there were about 200. I try to stay in my own zone, because when I star looking at other people and comparing myself to other dancers, that’s what really makes a dancer nervous.

From the March/April, 2010 issue