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No. 2 Oklahoma holds off Stanford 67-50
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The Oklahoma women's basketball team didn't let a size mismatch get in the way of a second straight trip to the NCAA regional semifinals. Stanford had more height at every position, but Oklahoma outrebounded the Cardinal by 18 and won 67-50 in the second round of the West Regional on Monday night. "Every player on our roster is smaller than them," coach Sherri Coale said. "That should give you some indication of why I'm so proud of these kids." The Sooners (28-5) missed their first 14 shots of the second half, but didn't give up the lead and used a 10-0 run later to take control for good. LaNeishea Caufield scored 18 points, Caton Hill had 14 points and 14 rebounds, and All-America Stacey Dales scored 14 as the Sooners won in front of a school-record crowd of 11,050. "You can't be intimidated by height," Dales said. "As you pound it inside, you draw attention and get kickouts, and that really allows our guards to do a lot on the perimeter." Oklahoma, seeded No. 2, will play sixth-seeded Washington in the regional semifinals Saturday in Spokane, Wash. Cori Enghusen tied her career high with 14 points and tied a school record with six of Stanford's 11 blocks. Nicole Powell also scored 14 for the Cardinal. Stanford (19-11) played well enough defensively, holding Oklahoma to 32.8 percent shooting. But the Cardinal only shot 33 percent and couldn't overcome Oklahoma's edge on the backboards.
"To me, rebounding is effort," coach Tara VanDerveer said. "I'm very disappointed to come in here and not do a better job." While Oklahoma was misfiring early in the second half, Stanford was committing six of its 14 turnovers and was only able to cut a six-point halftime deficit to two. "We kept our composure. We stayed poised," Caufield said. "We just kept playing together, working hard, because we believe if we just keep working together and working hard, something good was eventually going to happen." The score was 47-43 when Dales hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to start the 10-0 run that gave the Sooners their biggest lead to that point. Powell scored consecutive baskets to get Stanford within 10 with 4:57 to play, but the Cardinal got no closer. Stanford missed its first six shots while Oklahoma went 4-of-7, including 3-pointers by Caufield and Hill, to take an 11-2 lead. Stanford started getting the ball inside more effectively and got back into the game. Enghusen, who at 6-foot-7 is five inches taller than any Oklahoma player, scored 10 in a seven-minute span in which Stanford cut the deficit to 28-23. "It just came down to coming out and being aggressive, and they came out more aggressive than we did," Enghusen said. "They came out like they had more confidence then we did and they came out like they really wanted it." Stanford has not made it past the second round of the tournament since 1997.
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