Oklahoma Stays With the Program

The first meeting between the Duke Blue Devils and the Oklahoma Sooners will be remembered as the night the Oklahoma program, which was nearly dropped by its administration 12 years ago, reached unprecedented heights.

By running a game but ultimately short-handed Duke team into the ground Friday, the Sooners advanced for the first time to the NCAA championship game with an 86-71 victory before 29,615 at the Alamodome.

The Sooners (32-3) will play Connecticut on Sunday.

“There’s no way we win this game without having played in the Big 12,” Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said. “We’ve been tested and tested by having to play Baylor, Colorado, Texas.... I’m proud of the way we did this, by playing together and keeping our poise when Duke made its runs. The way these players handle their business never ceases to amaze me.”

Four Sooners finished in double figures as Oklahoma shot 46% from the field. The leader was a surprise. Senior guard Rosalind Ross, who says she is playing on a right knee “held together by one ligament,” burned the Blue Devils for a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds. Stacey Dales added 17 points, Caton Hill had 14 points and LaNeishea Caufield 12.

Oklahoma also corralled the Duke starting backcourt. Sophomore Alana Beard, who had carried Duke (31-4) to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the East Regional title, scored 15 points before fouling out. But she was hounded into a six-for-15 shooting night by Caufield.

“I don’t think they did anything special defensively,” Beard said. “It was on us. Offensively, we didn’t execute the way we needed to. It was a lot of little things and turnovers [16].”

Duke guard Monique Currie scored only eight points on three-for-10 shooting against the Sooner All-American Dales.

“We knew that LaNeishea had a tough assignment against Alana, who is a great player,” said Ross, who made seven of 14 shots. “We had to help out any way we could. I felt I did that.”

Duke, which last appeared in the Final Four in 1999, when the Blue Devils made it to the championship game, had won 22 consecutive games and 28 of 29 before Friday’s matchup.

But the Blue Devils have been doing it the hard way. After two players left the team before the Virginia Tech game on Dec. 6, Duke has been making do with eight scholarship players.

Friday, the Blue Devils were against a team as hot as they were. The Sooners, whose first NCAA tournament berth was three years ago, also came into Texas blazing with nine consecutive victories and 17 wins in their last 18 games. The Sooners had two other impressive streaks working this season; they were 12-0 against nonconference opponents and 10-0 on neutral courts.

Duke started out fine, leading, 13-7, at the 5:22 mark. But Oklahoma’s defense tightened. Then the Sooners put a 20-2 run on the Blue Devils and remained in charge the rest of the half. The Blue Devils’ only field goal during their six-minute freeze was Beard’s layup.

It looked for a moment that Duke would recover, closing within 29-24 on a free throw by Iciss Tillis, who finished with a team-high 19 points.

But the Blue Devils could not take advantage of two steals, with Currie and Beard both missing fastbreak layups. Oklahoma regained its poise and led, 40-28, at halftime.

The Blue Devils kept filing down the Oklahoma lead until only a basket separated the two, 64-62, with less than eight minutes to play.

But Hill scored a three-point shot, sparking another 10-1 Sooner run.