Cowgirl Basketball: Egharevba, Gray Shine as Oklahoma State Guts Out Win in Salt Lake City

The Cowgirls didn’t necessarily bust out of their shooting slump Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, but they still rolled their sleeves up and gutted out a W.

Oklahoma State came back to beat Utah 68-64 in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The Cowgirls shot well below their season averages Tuesday — shooting 37% from the field and 26% from 3-point range. But, the Cowgirls won the game on the glass, outrebounding Utah 47-31. That included a 20-10 advantage in offensive rebounds, and OSU scored 18 second-chance points to the Utes’ five.

The biggest of those second-chance points came with 32 seconds left and the game tied at 64. Praise Egharevba ripped down her second offensive rebound of OSU’s possession before going back up and scoring while being fouled. She’d made the free throw and give the Cowgirls a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

COUNT ITTTTTT#GoPokes | @PraiseEgharevba pic.twitter.com/edafscGH17

— OSU Cowgirl Basketball (@OSUWBB) February 19, 2025

It was part of a career night for Egharevba. She had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double. It’s just the third time in her career that Egharevba, a redshirt sophomore, scored in double figures, and this marks her first career double-double.

The Utes led for 24:42 Tuesday. Their largest lead was nine, and they had that with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.

Micah Gray hit a 3 at the end of the third to cut Utah’s lead to 56-50 heading into the fourth. That make seemed to spark something in Gray, as she hit a 3 to start the fourth, and the Cowgirls started the quarter on a 6-0 run to tie it at 56.

A Jenna Johnson layup gave the Utes the lead back, but Gray responded with another 3. Then with Utah holding a 62-61 lead with just over two minutes to play, she hit another 3.

THE ANSWER FROM 3⃣

OSU 64, Utah 62#GoPokes | @MicahGray2022 pic.twitter.com/SDgZN0Aqdk

— OSU Cowgirl Basketball (@OSUWBB) February 19, 2025

It was going to be hard to keep all of OSU’s shooters down long. Although the Cowgirls still struggled as a team shooting the basketball, Gray caught flame in the second half, going 4-for-5 from 3-point range. She scored 14 of her team-high 18 points in the second half.

Anna Gret Asi was the third Cowgirl in double figures, as she scored 15 points. She was just 3-for-14 from the field but went 8-for-9 from the foul line.

Free-throw shooting played a big role in the game, as both teams struggled with foul trouble. Stailee Heard played just 22 minutes because of foul trouble, and she finished with four points — the fewest minutes played and the fewest points scored for Heard since OSU’s season-opener. OSU center Tenin Magassa played just 16 minutes, as she finished the game with four fouls, as well.

In total, there were 41 fouls called and 34 free throws shot. The Cowgirls took advantage of theirs, going 16-for-18 (89%) from the stripe. But the Utes went just 9-for-16 (56%) at the line.

And lastly, this game isn’t won without the Cowgirls’ defense. Utah came into the night shooting 48% from the field and 39% from 3-point range, and OSU held the Utes to 43% from the field and 22% from deep. Utah shot 23 3s and made only five of them.

It was a big win for a Cowgirls to get the sour taste of Saturday’s loss to BYU out of their mouths. The OSU win levels the Cowgirls with Utah in the Big 12 standings and with the head-to-head advantage pushes OSU into the four seed of the Big 12 standings. That’s important because with the 16-team conference tournament, the top four seeds get two byes. Seeds 5-8 get one bye. But there is still basketball to be played to get to that point. The Cowgirls have three games left, starting with a matchup against Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday in Gallagher-Iba Arena.