Women's Basketball Travels To California

Dec. 20, 2000

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The 20th/17th-ranked Oklahoma women's basketball travels to San Diego, Calif., to face San Diego on Thursday, Dec. 21, at 9 p.m. CST inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100).

The game will be carried live on KOMA-AM (1520), OU's radio station, and on the Internet at www.soonersports.com. Ed Murray (play-by-play) and Jenny Bramer (color analyst) will call the action.

Following Thursday night's game, the Sooners will take three days off for the Christmas Holiday before returning to practice to prepare for Stanford on Wednesday, Dec. 27, inside the Lloyd Noble Center at 7 p.m.

SERIES RECORD OU vs. San DiegoOU leads 3-0
Thursday's game will be the fourth meeting between the two teams. Oklahoma sports a flawless 3-0 record against San Diego.

Oklahoma's margin of victory over the Toreros is 37.7 points per game. The Sooners won their first game, 72-54 (+18), in San Diego in 1982, followed by a 100-50 (+50) thrashing in Norman in 1983. OU also defeated USD 84-39 (+45) a year ago in Norman. OU's home victories over USD rank among the school's all-time largest home win margins.

Oklahoma is 6-2 against teams from the West Coast Conference. OU Head Coach Sherri Coale is 1-0 against USD.

OKLAHOMA (6-3)
Oklahoma is coming off of a 75-61 victory over North Texas on Monday. The Sooners were led by sophomores Jadrea Seeley and Caton Hill. Seeley recorded a season-high 17 points and had two assists and defensive rebounds. Hill scored 12 points and matched a career-high 13 rebounds for her second double double of the season and eighth of her career. Junior Jen Cunningham scored in double digits for the second time this season with 11 points on four of seven shooting from the field. Cunningham also had five rebounds. As a team, the Sooners shot 45.3 percent from the field to UNT's 30.5 percent. OU also had 16 steals and 20 assists to the Lady Eagles five each.

On the season, Oklahoma is led by juniors Stacey Dales (Brockville, Ontario) and LaNeishea Caufield (Ada, Okla.). The duo is averaging 15.6 per game and are given the assignments of guard the opponent's top players. Dales is also the team, NCAA and Big 12 Conference leader in assists with 8.1 per game. She is shooting 43.5 percent from the field and pockets 4.1 steals per game, second on the team and among the nation's top 10.

Caufield is currently leading the nation in thefts with 4.4 steals per game. She's also shooting a solid 49.0 percent from the field and 84.4 percent from the free throw line.

Leading the team defensively is sophomore Caton Hill (Ada, Okla.) who's averaging a team-best 7.3 boards per game. Hill also ranks third on the team in scoring with 9.8 ppg. Junior Jen Cunningham (Kingston, Ontario) also contributes defensively with 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.

As a team, OU scores 80.7 points and averages 41.9 rebounds per game compared to its opponents' 69.3 points and 37.7 rebounds.

Oklahoma opened its season with victories over Tulsa, 80-49, and host Oral Roberts, 87-56, at the Bertha Teague Classic in Tulsa, Okla. OU then traveled to Madison, Wis., to compete in the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge where OU lost to Georgia, 94-70, and host Wisconsin, 97-77. Dales was named to both all-tournament teams, while teammate Caufield was voted to the all-tournament team and was MVP of the Bertha Teague Classic. Following the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge, OU went on a three-game winning streak with wins over Southwest Missouri State, 89-82, at Arkansas-Little Rock, 86-45, and SMU, 101-71.

SAN DIEGO (3-2)
San Diego returns to the court Wednesday, Dec. 20, after a seven day lay-off. It is uncommon, when not in tournament action, to play back-to-back game especially consecutive games against teams from the same state. The Toreros will do just that as they host Tulsa on Wednesday before facing Oklahoma on Thursday.

San Diego is 3-2 on the season with wins over Long Beach State, 62-59, and at UCLA, 86-67, to open the season. USC handed the Toreros their first home loss, 70-56, followed by a 58-54 loss at Cal State Northridge. San Diego most recently defeated UCI, 73-54, on Dec. 12.

The Toreros are lead by Amber Jansen's 16.8 points per game. The 6-1 junior also leads the team in rebounds with 7.4 boards per outing while shooting 47.6 percent from the field. Also averaging 10-plus points is Kerri Nakamoto. Nakamoto contributes 11.6 ppg and shots 90 percent from the free throw line. She also averages 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

As a team, USD shots 44.8 percent from the field, 69.8 percent from the charity stripe and 38.7 percent from the arc. San Diego out rebounds its opponents 35.8 to 34.6 (+1.2) and out scores them 66.2 to 61.6 (+4.6).

USD is coached by Kathy Marpe who's in her 21st season with the Toreros.

2ND ABSENCE!
Did you noticed that junior guard LaNeishea Caufield (Ada, Okla.) did not attempt a free throw against North Texas? Her absence from the charity stripe was only the second time in Caufield's 71-career games at OU that she's not appeared at the foul line.

She has hit 34 of her last 36 attempted free throws (94.4 percent) and has been perfect at the charity stripe in three different games (10-for-10 at Southwest Missouri State, 8-for-8 vs. Wisconsin and 5-5 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock) this season.

BOARD BUSTERS
A year ago, OU outrebounded 24 of its 33 opponents. Of those nine games that the Sooners were out hustled they produced a 3-6 overall record. This year Oklahoma has already been outrebounded in four games, losing two.

SUPER SOPHOMORES
Oklahoma's super sophomores Jadrea Seeley (Bethel, Okla.) and Caton Hill (Ada, Okla.) has recently picked up their offensive and defensive production to assist the Sooners. Seeley has scored in double digits five times while Hill has two double double performances to her credit. Hill leads the team in total, offensive and defensive rebounds averaging 7.3 boards per game. She also ranks third on the team in scoring with 9.8 ppg followed by Seeley's 9.6 ppg. Since Hill's poor showing in both of OU's opening tournaments, the power forward has responded to average 13.8 ppg and 8.6 rpg and has shot 63.0 from the field over the last five outings.

SOONER BRIEFS
The Sooners are 5-0 when leading at half time.

Oklahoma has collected more steals and dished out more assists than its opponents in eight of nine games.

North Texas outrebounded OU 45-43. Last year, Oklahoma held a 40-28 advantage over the Lady Eagles.

Oklahoma is 3-0 inside the Lloyd Noble Center and has won 11 of its last 12 home games.

Senior Sunny Hardeman (Norman, Okla.) and junior Stacey Dales (Brockville, Ontario). were voted team co-captains.

Sophomore Caton Hill (Ada, Okla.) has produced two double doubles this season and has eight for her career. Hill scored a career-high 23 points and had 12 rebounds against

Southwest Missouri State on Dec. 1 and netted 12 points and matched a personal-best 13 rebounds against North Texas on Dec. 16.

Junior guard LaNeishea Caufield (Ada, Okla.) scored her 1,000th career point against

Georgia on Nov. 22. Caufield now has 1,103 career points.

Oklahoma is 6-0 when leading at halftime.

LaNeishea Caufield (Ada, Okla.) has scored in double figure in eight of nine games this season.

OU's largest margin of victory is season has been 41 points against UALR.

Stacey Dales' 14 assists against SMU on Dec. 9, tops the Big 12 Conference and ranks third for most assists ever in a single game for a Sooner.

OU is coming off a school-record 25 victories, a Big 12 regular season title and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance a year ago.

NCAA LEADERS (AS OF DEC. 11)
Junior guard LaNeishea Caufield (Ada, Okla.) currently leads the nation in steals with an average of 4.9 thefts per outing. Ranking second in thefts per game is Grambling's Chovanique Kibble who averages 4.5 spg.

In addition, junior point guard Stacey Dales (Brockville, Ontario) ranks third in the NCAA in assists per game, dishing out 8.3 per contest. She also ranks sixth in thefts with 4.1 per game.

NO CUPCAKES ON THIS TRAY
OU's schedule has not been easy for the Sooners as four of Oklahoma's first nine games have been against the nation's top 25 teams [Georgia, Wisconsin, SMS, twice].

OU'S 60-GAME STREAK WITH A TREY SNAPPED
Nearly a year to the date, Oklahoma saw its 60-consecutive game with a made three-pointer snapped as the Southwest Missouri State held OU scoreless from beyond the arc Saturday. Oklahoma was 0-9 from three-point land against SMS. The last time the Sooners failed to make a trey during a game was against Denver in Colorado on Dec. 16, 1999. OU was 0-8 against the Pioneers but won the game, 80-52.

SOONER SUBS PLAY A VITAL ROLE
Oklahoma reserves are contributing 35 percent of the team's total points compared to its opponents' 25 percent. In six of the team's nine games, the subs have contributed more than 30 percent of OU's total points, including 55 percent (42-of-77 points) against Wisconsin.

TOPPING THE CONFERENCE
Juniors Stacey Dales (Brockville, Ontario) and LaNeishea Caufield (Ada, Okla.) top the Big 12 Conference as the duo leads the league in assists (8.1) and steals (4.5) per game, respectively. In addition, Caufield ranks seventh in scoring and eighth in free throw percentage while Dales ranks second in assists/turnover ratio, third in steals and seventh in scoring.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women's Basketball Travels To California

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