Sooners oust OSU in Big 12 quarterfinals

Dales scores 23 in the Sooners' 81-56 win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals

The fourth-ranked Oklahoma women's basketball team dominated Oklahoma State in the second round of the Big 12 Post Season Basketball tournament in Kansas City, beating the Cowgirls 81-56.

Stacey Dales hit her first three 3-point attempts and scored 16 points in the first five minutes of the game. Dales finished with 23 points after playing in only half the contest.

"In the first game of the tournament, I feel like its important to set the tone early," said Dales on her early scoring outburst. "We initiated things well and I thought we were well prepared."

"Stacey isn't known to be a great three-point shooter, but she got two or three (three-pointers) early and Shelby (Hutchens) is a great defender, she just didn't have an answer today for her at all," said OSU Head Coach Dick Halterman on Dales performance. "I just give the credit to Stacey more than our kids doing a poor job on her. (Stacey) just knows where she wants to go right now."

Super frosh Dionnah Jackson came off the bench and scored a career-high 23 points.

The Sooners jumped on the Cowgirls from the opening tip taking a 32-6 lead with in the games' first nine minutes. OU Head Coach Sherri Coale cleared the bench in the first half and substituted freely in the second half.

"Im proud of my team," said Coale. "They came out fresh and had a lot of energy. They played very hard and I'm not surprised. I credit that to a group of seniors who know the object of this whole game."

"I think Oklahoma can win a national championship if they just play the way they played in the first five minutes of the game today," said Halterman. "They shot the ball well, they took it to us offensively, they took it to us defensively, and I really felt like we were ready to play, we just couldn't respond to their defensive pressure."

Oklahoma will play Kansas State tomorrow in the Big 12 semi-finals at 6 p.m. The Wildcats advanced to Thursday's showdown with OU after beating Texas, 79-63, Wednesday afternoon.