March 18, 2002

Box Score?|? Quotes?|? Notes

By OWEN CANFIELD
AP Sports Writer

NORMAN, Okla. - LaNeishea Caufield scored 30 points and second-seeded Oklahoma withstood an early 3-point flurry by Villanova to beat the Wildcats 66-53 Monday night in the second round of the NCAA West Regional.

The top-seeded Sooners (29-3) won their 23rd straight at home and advanced to their third straight regional semifinal. They will play fellow Big 12 member Texas Tech on Saturday night in Boise, Idaho. Oklahoma beat Tech twice this season.

Mimi Riley scored 18 for ninth-seeded Villanova (20-11), which has yet to advance past the second round in six NCAA tournament appearances.

The Wildcats, who lead the nation with 8.5 made 3-pointers per game, had seven in the first 11:15 of the game but only one the rest of the way.

The Sooners saw an early 11-point deficit cut to one before outscoring Villanova 14-2 in the final 8:44 of the half. They scored the first seven points of the second half to build a 49-29 lead, and Villanova got no closer than 12 after that.

The Wildcats, who started out 10-of-18 from the field, wound up 19-of-51 (37 percent) overall and went 8-of-23 from 3-point range. Oklahoma shot 48 percent.

Caufield scored 18 points in the first 10{ minutes as Oklahoma built a 24-13 lead. Then Villanova made five straight 3-pointers during a run that brought it within 28-27.

Seven of the Wildcats' first 10 baskets were 3-pointers, most coming in the final seconds of the shot clock. But they were just 1-of-11 the rest of the half as Oklahoma surged ahead 42-29.

Villanova's first field goal of the second half didn't come until the 12:58 mark, when Riley scored in the lane to make the score 51-35.

Oklahoma's 29 victories broke the school record set last year. The crowd of 11,245 was the largest to watch a women's game in state of Oklahoma, surpassing mark of 11,200 set during the first-round games Saturday night.