Instant Recap: Oklahoma State Falls to Colorado 79-65 on the Road

BOXSCORE

The Cowgirls showed some grit late, but they couldn’t overcome a rough shooting performance and the stifling defense of the Buffs.

Oklahoma State dropped its road game at Colorado 79-65. The Cowgirls turned in their worst shooting game of the season, a trend against CU.

Colorado seemed bent on keeping OSU from getting going on the perimeter — and proved successful doing just that — so the Cowgirls made an effort to get points in the paint.

Achol Akot had OSU’s first two buckets on screen-and-rolls but then the Cowgirls’ offense slumped. Colorado went on an 9-0 run to take an 11-4 lead while OSU missed eight consecutive shots from the field. But Amari Whiting hit a couple of layups, including a floater just as the first quarter expired to cut the lead to 16-10.

It was more of the same in the second. Colorado pushed its lead to as much as 19 with an 8-0 run. The Cowgirls started 0-for-12 from beyond the arc. Their few spurts of offense came at the rim and were hard-earned.

The Buffaloes have been as good as anyone at slowing down the Cowgirls. When the two teams last met two weeks ago, the Buffs held the Cowgirls to just 63 points, their second-lowest outing all year. In that matchup OSU shot what was then a season-low 37.7% from the field but was able to somehow shoot better (38.1%) from 3. That was not the case on Sunday. They shot a season-low 35% from the field and just 20% from deep in Boulder.

It took a heroic effort from Stailee Heard for OSU to pull away from Colorado in Stillwater. The Buffs did their best to keep her in check in Boulder. After lighting up the last couple of weeks and fresh off her triple-double against Iowa State, Heard went 0-for-5 from the field and finished with just three points.

Hayleigh Timmer finally broke the seal on the deep balls late in the second half. Akot led the Cowgirls at the break with eight points and was a big part of the 9-0 run that OSU rode into halftime to pull within 35-25.

The Buffs pushed the lead back to 18 midway through the third quarter but OSU finished the period on another scoring spurt. Lena Girardi took a steal the other way and picked up foul on a 3-point attempt and made all three charity shots.

The Cowgirls finished the third on a 6-0 run, making 4-of-5 shots to pull within 55-45, making it single digits for the first time since early in the second quarter. The Cowgirls stayed within arm’s reach for most of the fourth, but they just couldn’t get over the hump, missing seven of their last eight field goal attempts.

While the Buffs did plenty to make things hard for the Cowgirls, it also just seemed clear it wasn’t their day.

Micah Gray pulled a rip move a la KD in his prime but missed all three of her free throws. She came in shooting 86% from the line.

Jade Masogayo led the Buffaloes, tying a career high with 22 points on 14 shots. But she had her hands full with Akot. The Cowgirl big was one shy of her own career high, also pouring in 22 points on 14 shots before fouling out. Akot also led the Cowgirls with nine rebounds, had two blocks and two steals.

Timmer was the other bright spot for the Pokes, scoring 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 3-of-8 from 3. Take her out, and OSU went 2-for-17 from beyond the arc.

With the loss, the Cowgirls fall to 16-5 and 5-3 in Big 12 play and break a three-game winning streak. Next up, they return home for a midweek matchup with BYU. The Cowgirls host the Cougars at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.