No. 4 Oklahoma 76, No. 12 Kansas St. 68

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) _ Both fourth-ranked Oklahoma and No. 12 Kansas State would agree the Wildcats' 19 turnovers made the difference in their 76-68 loss to the Sooners on Wednesday. <br><br>Well,

Thursday, February 14th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) _ Both fourth-ranked Oklahoma and No. 12 Kansas State would agree the Wildcats' 19 turnovers made the difference in their 76-68 loss to the Sooners on Wednesday.

Well, turnovers and Rosalind Ross.

Ross, Oklahoma's senior 3-point specialist, made 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead the Sooners (21-2, 11-1 Big 12) to their seventh straight victory.

Her 3-point shooting in the first half erased a 13-2 Kansas State lead and the Sooners withstood two second-half rallies by the Wildcats (21-5, 9-4).

``There were individual possessions where people didn't do a good job on Ross,'' said Kansas State coach Deb Patterson. ``That stuck a knife in our side.''

The Wildcats held Oklahoma to 1-of-9 shooting to start the game and quickly took an 11-point lead with 13:32 to go in the first half. But Ross stopped the run with three straight 3s as the Sooners rallied to tie it at 15-15 with 9:15 left in the half.

The Sooners finished the half on a 9-0 run and the Wildcats never fully recovered.

``We had people step up when we were struggling,'' said Oklahoma's Stacey Dales. ``Ross ignited us tonight.''

Oklahoma shot 39 percent, but scored 21 points off Wildcat turnovers.

``Turnovers were a big factor,'' said Kansas State guard Megan Mahoney. ``You give them the ball 19 times and it's hard to overcome.''

Caton Hill scored 20, LaNeishea Caufield had 13 points and Dales and Dionnah Jackson had 12 each for the Sooners.

Kendra Wecker had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Nicole Ohlde added 20 points for the Wildcats. Laurie Koehn and Mahoney added 10 points each for the Wildcats.

Hill's 3-pointer with 18:40 remaining gave the Sooners an 11-point lead, but the Wildcats went on a 9-2 run to cut the margin to four points with 15:27 left. But that's a close as Kansas State could get.

The Sooners held the Wildcats without a field goal for the next five minutes and took a 13-point lead with 7:46 remaining. Kansas State again pulled close at 70-64 with 1:20 left.

Dales made two free throws to secure the win.

``I thought our guys did a great job of staying on an even keel throughout the game,'' said Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale. ``We played great on defense in important situations. Our speed really paid off.''