Cowgirl Basketball: OSU Erases 15-Point Deficit to Upset No. 9 TCU

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STILLWATER — Stailee Heard said she had never been part of a court storming, but if she keeps playing like she is, Tuesday night’s storm might not be her last.

Oklahoma State beat No. 9 TCU 60-59 on Wednesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowgirls erased a 15-point second-half deficit to earn their first Top 10 win since Dec. 8, 2017 and advance to 16-3 on the season.

“I woke up just feeling so grateful and blessed to be in this situation,” OSU coach Jacie Hoyt said. “There’s a part of me that — this is the big time and I go into every game expecting to win. But there’s also a part of me that is still very childlike, to be honest, with this job. This is a dream for me to get to work here, and it’s a dream to get to play in these types of games. …

“These games are the types of games that you dream of as a little kid, and even still to this day. This is why we came here. This is why we work so hard to get to be in these positions. I just told myself no matter what, I’m gonna have fun tonight, I’m gonna embrace this and we’re gonna believe that we’re gonna win this game. We fully expected to win. It’s special.”

The Cowgirls looked outmatched in the first half, as TCU went into the locker room with a 39-24 lead, but Hoyt’s squad didn’t quit. OSU outscored TCU 16-9 in the third. TCU pushed its lead back up to 53-42 after a 5-0 run early in the fourth quarter before a freshman and a sophomore took over. Sophomore Stailee Heard and freshman Jadyn Wooten pulled off a 16-2 run, with Wooten scoring 10 and Heard pouring in the other six. That pair took the Cowgirls’ final 10 field-goal attempts of the game, going 8-for-10 in that stretch.

With the game tied at 55 and about a minute left, Wooten drove baseline before ripping a pass to Heard on the opposite wing. Heard was so open, almost too open. But she’s an assassin. Standing in the lane, OSU center Tenin Magassa held up three fingers because she knew. Micah Gray held up three and started trotting back to the defensive end because she knew. Heard collected, shot and hit to give the Cowgirls their first lead since it was 2-0.

COWGIRLS TAKE THE LEAD!!!!#GoPokes | @StaileeHeard32 pic.twitter.com/xNXtWFVuch

— OSU Cowgirl Basketball (@OSUWBB) January 23, 2025

“I just took my time and knocked it down,” Heard said. “That was a big shot, of course, but I was just like, ‘We have to stay locked in. We have to get a stop. There’s still time on the clock.’ But, yeah, that was really big, and the crowd made it even more special.”

Like Heard mentioned, there was still work to be done after her go-ahead 3. Heard got a steal on TCU’s ensuing possession before a Wooten layup attempt was blocked out of bounds. The Cowgirls got the ball into Anna Gret Asi, who was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to push OSU’s lead to 60-55 before nails started being bitten.

OSU forced a Hailey Van Lith miss, but Sedona Prince grabbed an offense rebound and was fouled. She split the pair, making OSU’s lead 60-56. TCU fouled Tenin Magassa with 15 seconds left, but Magassa went 0-for-2 at the line, giving the Horned Frogs some hope. Magassa then fouled Madison Conner on a 3-point attempt. Luckily for the Cowgirls, the shot didn’t fall because Conner is shooting 46% from 3 on the season. She hit all three free throws, cutting the Cowgirls’ lead back to 60-59. The Horned Frogs fouled Asi, who missed both free throws, giving TCU a shot at the win, but a Van Lith jumper was off, and after a review and inbound pass to drain the final second, the students stormed Eddie Sutton Court.

Heard finished with a team-high 17, doing so on just 10 shots. She scored 10 of her points in the second half. She also had a team-high six rebounds and played 35 of the game’s 40 minutes. Her go-ahead 3 was probably her biggest bucket, but she had a tough and-one a few possessions before that to cut TCU’s lead down to two points.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?#GoPokes | @StaileeHeard32 pic.twitter.com/Y6vmrnwNYP

— OSU Cowgirl Basketball (@OSUWBB) January 23, 2025

All 14 of Wooten’s points came in the second half. She also had a team-high four assists and just one turnover. She showed a ton of composure for a freshman, as well. Wooten made just two of her first nine shots before going 5-for-8 in the fourth. It’s not like Wooten was just getting uncontested layups either. All of her fourth-quarter makes were jumpers.

“Jadyn Wooten was special tonight,” Hoyt said. “She was not playing like a freshman. I think she really grew up tonight, and that’s the player that we’ve known that she can be. So it was great to see her step up and really carry us when we needed it.

“Stailee continues to do Stailee things — make big shots, get huge rebounds that are very timely.”

Heard, Wooten and Magassa were all +16 in the second half, meaning the Cowgirls were 16 points better than TCU with those three on the floor. Magassa’s only stats in the fourth quarter were a rebound and two blocks, but the 6-6 center was +12 in the fourth quarter alone.

To get to that comeback, the Cowgirls struggled keeping TCU off the offensive glass in the first half. Prince, TCU’s 6-foot-7 center, had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double in the first half. She had five offensive boards in the first 20 minutes, part of the Horned Frogs 12 offensive rebounds in the first half. Going into the locker room, TCU had a 25-14 rebound advantage and a 12-0 advantage in second-chance points.

Hoyt said she felt like her Cowgirls were playing defense the entire first half. When they’d get a stop, the Horned Frogs would get the rebound. But OSU played aggressive defense in the second half, oftentimes picking the Horned Frogs up full court and pressing the issue.

“We just were not tough (in the first half),” Hoyt said. “We felt like they were being the more aggressive team. We didn’t attack at all offensively. We were not drawing any fouls. They were the aggressor. They were drawing fouls. They were getting to the free-throw line. They were killing us on the glass. It really wasn’t anything schematic. It was like, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. We just weren’t being the tougher team.

“Once we challenged our team and again had to get that going, then that made a huge difference.”

The Cowgirls rose to that challenge Hoyt mentioned. TCU entered Tuesday’s game averaging 82.1 points a game, and OSU held the Horned Frogs to just 59 — the second fewest TCU has scored in a game all season. It was also just the second time the Horned Frogs had lost.

Although the glass might’ve been an issue, taking care of the ball wasn’t. OSU had just five turnovers all game. The Cowgirls forced TCU into 12, with OSU earning a 16-7 advantage in points off turnovers.

It’s the biggest win of the Hoyt era and should push the Cowgirls back into the Top 25 come next week. Perhaps more importantly, Tuesday’s win could be a game that pushes the program forward in Year 3 of the Hoyt era.

“I think we’ve been doing that all season long,” Hoyt said. “Whether it was in our noncon — not just the winning, but the way we were winning — we’ve set all types of records. We’ve got a really great thing going. This was just another stepping stone of affirmation of what we’ve got going here. What a great place this is to play. I feel like people are definitely taking notice.”

Postgame News Conference