Nothing to be ashamed of

Oklahoma finishes best season in school history

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Connecicut coach Geno Auriemma knew what he was talking about three months ago when he said Oklahoma would be a tough team in March.

While Oklahoma missed a slew of inside shots Sunday night, Auriemma's Huskies still had to come up big to beat the determined Sooners 82-70 to complete a perfect season.

"It was without question the most difficult game we have had to play," said Auriemma, whose team beat Oklahoma by 14 points on the road in December. "Oklahoma was unbelievably good. They were unbelievably good."

Oklahoma, making its first appearance ever in the championship game, never let the Huskies (39-0) get to far ahead and the Sooners trailed by only six points with 2:16 to go.

The Sooners (32-4) finished the best season in school history by making Connecticut work hard for their third national title and second undefeated season.

The Sooners were aggressive, driving to the basket, but they missed layups and easy putbacks when Connecticut didn't.

After Connecticut's Asjha Jones drove along the baseline for a layup, Oklahoma's Caton Hill tried a similar move. She missed.

That's the way it was all night. Connecticut dominated inside while the outside shooting wasn't its best.

But Oklahoma couldn't shut down every phase of the Huskies' game.

Oklahoma was 24-of-62 from the field and 14-of-20 from the foul line.

The Sooners' perimeter defense couldn't have been better, holding Connecticut to 0-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. And the Huskies had 21 turnovers that led to 23 points for Oklahoma. Connecticut outrebounded Oklahoma 44-25.

The Sooners lost at Connecticut 86-72 on Dec. 22, one of the Huskies' closest victories of the season. Oklahoma cut it to 55-50 with 9:22 left, but that was as close as the Sooners would get.

After that game Auriemma said: "They're one of these teams that come March is going to be really hard for someone to play."

The Sooners are 0-4 against Connecticut, but believed the Huskies were beatable.

And they played that way.

"I don't know if there was a national championship game played so hard by both teams," Auriemma said.

Oklahoma All-American Stacey Dales had 18 points before fouling out. Rosalind Ross added 17, and Caufield had 14.

The teams first played in December 1999 in Norman, Okla., and the Huskies won 85-68. Connecticut won again in the 2000 regional semifinals by 22 points en route to the 2000 championship.

Despite the loss, Oklahoma's program has come a long way.

The university disbanded the women's basketball program after posting a 7-22 record in 1989-90. It was reinstated eight days later after some administrators, community leaders and other women's basketball coaches campaigned against the move.

The team had three winning seasons in the next six years before coach Sherri Coale was hired in 1996. Her first season ended 5-22, but in two seasons the program was finally above .500.

The Sooners continued to improve, winning the Big 12 regular season and tournament championships this year for the first time in school history.

 

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