Editor's note: Oklahoma's Stacey Dales, a Kodak All-American in 2000-01, will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season.

Nov. 13, 2001

It's about 4 p.m. and practice is over but my day is not. I have to do a couple of interviews and then I'm off to lift weights. Afterward, I have to go home and get ready for a community service event in Oklahoma City, and then I have a paper to write that's due tomorrow. Sometimes I feel like my days are never ending.

	Dales

The drills we did at practice are still running through my mind. I had a good practice though. I am still replaying the Purdue game through me head, and have been since Sunday. Our team had a great win, but I wasn't exactly happy with the way I played. I'm just glad that it was just me struggling out there and not the whole team. It's easy to fix one person, but hard to fix the entire team.

I talked to coach Coale about my performance, and she told I didn't have anything to worry about. She talked to me about the things I did well, and the things I need to continue to work on. The thing is, I never felt like I had a flow in the Purdue game. I let a lot of things affect my game that shouldn't have. I am just proud of my teammates for the way they stepped up in the second half and pulled together for a win. That's going to be what carries us through this year, our togetherness.

Now I have to prepare for the next two weekends at the Bertha Teague and Texas-San Antonio Tournaments. Our coaching staff prepares the team for every game the same way. It's very important not to overlook any of the teams we play, because that's when you get surprised.

During this time of the year, basketball is definitely at the forefront of my mind, but it's hard not to think about my family around the holidays. I will miss being with them over Thanksgiving but I will get to see my fiancé, Chris, and his family when the team is in Texas next weekend. They are from Houston, so they're coming to watch us play. Even though I won't get to see my immediate family, I consider Chris' family as my own and treat me the same way. I couldn't ask for a better family to be a part of my life. Our families are very similar, so similar it's kind of scary.

Right now it's also important to be thinking about school. I have a lot of group projects going on and it's hard to find a time that fits everyone's schedule, but we always manage to work something out. Finals are coming up soon, as well. Sometimes I see class as a release from the demands of basketball. It forces me to forget about the game for a while and focus my attention elsewhere, and that's a good thing for me because I am constantly thinking about something.

For more on Stacey Dales and the Sooners, visit Oklahoma's official athletic site.