Cowgirl Hoops: Top 100 Prospect Lena Girardi Surprises Jacie Hoyt with In-Person Commitment

Jacie Hoyt landed one of the top talents in the 2025 recruiting class, and it even came as a shock to her.

Lena Girardi, a four-star shooting guard out of Florida committed to Oklahoma State on Friday, and she did so in dramatic fashion.

Through her parents, Girardi found out that Hoyt was planning to show up to their family home for a surprise visit ahead of Lena’s planned trip to Stillwater. So, she decided to turn the tables on her future head coach and welcome her with a surprise commitment.

IM HOMEEEEEEE #GoPokes 🧡🧡🧡🧡@OSUWBB pic.twitter.com/hHtQQTBmwA

— lena girardi (@LenaGirardi) September 13, 2024

The 6-foot shooting guard is the No. 79 prospect in the 2025 class according to ESPN. She plays out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. She’s been considered one of the elite scorers in high school hoops for a couple of years. The Cowgirls just recently appeared on her radar, but Hoyt and Co. made a quick impression. Girardi included OSU in her Top 5 along with Arizona, North Carolina, Northwestern and Virginia Tech last month.

It sounds like Girardi and Hoyt had an instant connection and found common ground on how her game would best translate at the next level.

“The connection that I had with Jacie [Hoyt], and just the way that she believed in me and her vision for me, was really a big thing for me,” Girardi said according to On3. ” The way that she came after me, and everything she did to show me that she wants me. We just connected right away. We would get on the phone and talk for an hour and we would talk about the most random stuff. It just really felt like we had an amazing connection. She’s just the best person ever. All the assistants too — they’re all amazing. Coach Kelby [Jones], is the one that I communicate with the most. He’s just so fun and I loved everything about them and their beliefs… When I went there, I kind of just fell in love with the campus.”

Girardi is the daughter of former MLB All-Star and New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi. And she even eschewed his alma mater, Northwestern, which was also in her Top 5, for the Cowgirls.