No. 22 Oklahoma 102, No. 17 Stanford 98, OT

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale could point to double-digit scoring by Caton Hill and LaNeisha Caufield as reasons for the Sooners' victory over Stanford but Coale would rather talk

Thursday, December 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale could point to double-digit scoring by Caton Hill and LaNeisha Caufield as reasons for the Sooners' victory over Stanford but Coale would rather talk about her players' collaboration on the court.

``It takes everybody to win,'' Coale said after No. 22 Oklahoma beat No. 17 Stanford 102-98 Wednesday night. ``The stat that sticks out the most to me is the 25 assists, and that's a reflection of a team playing together.''

Oklahoma fell behind by as many as seven points in regulation, but 3-pointers by Jadrea Seeley and Caufield whittled the deficit to 78-77 at the 5:47 mark.

Caton Hill paced the Sooners with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Stacy Dales and Jadrea Seeley added 15 points apiece.

Down the stretch, Oklahoma trailed Stanford (5-4) by seven with just under 10 minutes to go.

Stacy Dales hit a free throw after being fouled while getting an offensive rebound to bring the scored to 81-80. Stanford's Lindsey Yamasaki had a chance to win the game in regulation, but missed an 18-footer at the buzzer, leaving the score at 90-90.

Stanford led in overtime until Dales hit two free throws to tie the game at 98-98 with 1:10 left.

``I thought we had a lot of chances and didn't capitalize on them'' down the stretch, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. ``In overtime, we needed a couple of defensive stops and in the end, didn't get them.

``We played really hard. So did Oklahoma.''

Yamasaki led Stanford with 30 points and eight rebounds and Sarah Dimson added 14 points and six rebounds.

Oklahoma had an 11-point lead in the first half before Stanford came back on the strength of Yamasaki's shooting. Stanford scored on seven straight shots and took a 50-47 halftime advantage on an 18-4 run.

Coale savored the victory for her team, which opens Big 12 Conference play next month.

``You look for wins that legitimize you on the national scope, and beating a team like Stanford, I believe, does that.''