March 24, 2001
SPOKANE, Wash. - Washington and Oklahoma feel as if they're about to
play themselves.
Everyone's making comparisons and talking of the similarities between the
two opponents in the West Regional semifinals Saturday night.
They are two teams that don't play the halfcourt game. They settle for
nothing less than pushing the ball at every chance. They will fire 3-pointers
whenever there's an open look.
"It's going to be fast and fun, and a lot of shots are going to go up,"
Sooners guard Sunny Hardeman said. "It's going to be exciting for the crowd to
watch. There will be a lot of rebounds and a lot of layups."
The sixth-seeded Huskies - one of the tournament's biggest surprises after a
second-round upset win over Florida in Gainesville - average 73.7 points to
Oklahoma's 82.3.
Saturday's first semifinal at sold-out Spokane Arena (10,700) features
Jackie Stiles of No. 5 seed Southwest Missouri State (27-5) against Alana Beard
of top-seeded Duke (30-3).
Stiles, averaging 30.2 points as a senior, has 3,298 career points.
"I don't think we're going to stop her," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said.
"We just want to slow her down a little bit."
Beard, a freshman, leads Duke in scoring at 18.5 points per game, and in
steals at 1.3 per game. She will be one of at least four players to take turns
guarding Stiles. The Duke defense has held opponents to 37 percent shooting.
Southwest Missouri State coach Cheryl Burnett has the Lady Bears in the
round of 16 for the first time in eight years.
Oklahoma (28-5) has left defenders behind with its snappy ball movement. The
Sooners are led by guards Stacey Dales, LaNeisha Caufield and Hardeman. Dales,
an All-American and the Big 12 Player of the Year, and Caufield are the top
scorers at 16.1 points per game.
"She would rather have us turn the ball over 50 times in a game trying to
execute the fast break than pull it up and walk it down," Dales said of coach
Sherri Coale's style. "That's just the mindset she has for this team."
At Washington, it's much the same.
The Huskies will send three players diving to the floor after a loose ball
and hope that their in-the-face defense will lead to turnovers and easy
baskets.
Guards Megan Franza (16.2 ppg), Loree Payne (11.0) and Giuliana Mendiola
(11.0) handle the scoring load.
"It will be like playing us in practice," Payne said of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma and Washington have more in common than just their preferred
up-tempo style. Both are the tournament's turnaround teams.
The Huskies tied for the Pac-10 title after finishing 8-22 last season.
They're in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1995, and in the
tournament for the first time since '98.
"It was definitely a painful year," Franza said of last season. "Last
spring and summer, we got a fire under us. No one was going to settle for
anything close to 8-and-22."
At Oklahoma, Coale came from Norman High School to transform one of the
biggest losers in women's basketball into a national power in just five years.
The Sooners won their first outright Big 12 title this season, and second
straight. Oklahoma is in the Sweet Sixteen in consecutive years for the first
time.
"I knew when she got the job at Oklahoma there would be a turnaround,"
said Hardeman, who played for Coale at Norman High. "But I wasn't sure it
would be this quick. I knew she was destined for the top."
By JANIE McCAULEY
Associated Press Writer
