KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Stacey Dales and the Oklahoma Sooners
are enjoying the Big 12 Conference tournament for a change.
|  | | Oklahoma guard Stacey Dales, left, and Colorado center Britt Hartshorn get tangled up as they fight for a loose ball. |
No. 7 Oklahoma (26-4) made eight 3-pointers in the first half
and went on to tie the tournament record of 14 en route to a 102-93
semifinal victory over Colorado on Thursday night.
The top-seeded Sooners, who had never won a Big 12 tournament
game before this year, cruised into the final Saturday against Iowa State. The third-seeded Cyclones beat Texas Tech 73-62
in the other semifinal Thursday night.
"This is definitely an exciting team," Dales said. "We're
having fun. Postseason is a lot of fun. We're just enjoying the
ride."
The Sooners also broke the previous points record of 98 set by
Texas A&M in 1998.
"We wanted to push the ball," said Caton Hill, who led the
Sooners with 23 points and 11 rebounds. "If we kept doing that, we
knew it would be hard for Colorado to keep up."
Five other players scored in double figures for the Sooners.
LaNeishea Caufield had 19 points, Rosalind Ross 17, Dales 16, Sunny
Hardeman 15 and Jamie Talbert 10.
Mandy Nightingale scored 22 points, Linda Lappe 18 and Jenny
Rouilear 15 for fourth-seeded Colorado (21-8; No. 21 ESPN/USA Today; No. 20 Associated Press).
The Buffaloes cut a 14-point deficit to seven in the second
half, but Hardeman answered with two 3-pointers to hold them off.
"Kansas also came back on us," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale
said. "But we were able to weather it then, too. It's the maturity
of this team. Colorado's not going to go away. We knew that."
Oklahoma never trailed and led 50-39 at halftime.
Colorado shot 56.1 percent from the floor and 69 percent from
3-point range. But Oklahoma just made too many 3s for the Buffaloes
to keep up.
"We almost didn't expect them to shoot like that from 3-point
range," Colorado coach Ceal Barry said. "We knew they were going
to run. But their outside shooting was truly exceptional."
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ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard
Colorado Clubhouse
Oklahoma Clubhouse
Big 12 Conference tournament schedule
Later than Sooner, Oklahoma reaches Big 12 semifinals
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