Cowgirl Hoops: Oklahoma State Beats Utah 73-55, Capping Off a Successful Three Days

BOX SCORE

STILLWATER — Jacie Hoyt didn’t wait around on Eddie Sutton Court for high fives after the halftime buzzer, instead making a beeline for the OSU locker room.

Utah went into the break on a little run to pull within a two possession game with a shot at that buzzer, but Hoyt’s halftime talk proved key, as the Cowgirls went on to beat the Utes 73-55 thanks in large part to a dominant third quarter.

OSU outscored Utah 24-8 in the third, with some continued stifling defense. The Cowgirls held the Utes to 22% shooting in the frame while turning them over seven times. OSU turned those turnovers into nine points.

The Cowgirl scoring throughout that third quarter was fairly spread out. Center Achol Akot led the way with eight points. She also had two assists in the quarter and was +16 in those 10 minutes. Haleigh Timmer joined her at +16. She hit a 3 and also grabbed four of her team-high seven rebounds in the quarter.

“Just challenging them to be more urgent,” said Hoyt of the halftime talk. “I think our program is at a unique place where it’s one thing to be a team that’s trying to get to the tournament. It’s another thing to be a team that’s fighting for seeding. I feel like that’s the place — since I’ve been here — that’s where we are now. We’ve taken that step. That comes with a learning curve.

“That was great that we beat Tech (on Saturday), but the great teams want to continue to repeat. That was what today was about for me, just who are we? What is our character? And I thought that we responded really well. They just haven’t been in that position, at least this year.”

The stifling defense was a constant throughout the contest for the Cowgirls, as they ended up turning over the Utes 24 times, converting those into 26 points. OSU had a dozen steals, the eighth time they’ve reached that mark this season. On top of that, Utah finished the game shooting just 39% from the field and 33% from 3.

Micah Gray led the way in scoring. She put up 17 on 5-for-9 shooting, including going 4-for-7 from 3.

The Cowgirls went 6-for-15 from deep in the game. Shooting 40% is obviously good, but that’s the fewest number of 3-points attempts the Cowgirls have put up this season. OSU has made six or fewer 3s in eight games this season and is now 2-6 in those contest. So, the Cowgirls found other means of offense, like scoring 34 points in the paint, an area OSU held a 14-point advantage in.

“I thought they were taking the 3-point line away, and that’s when we needed to be a little bit more active off the ball and move the ball quicker than what we did,” Hoyt said. “That was to their credit, I think. And then we were able in a lot of those turnovers that we forced to just go get layups. Of course, we would rather take those than 3s in that case. …

“You just gotta keep finding ways to win, and today that did look a little bit different for us, but we were still very efficient.”

Timmer (15), Jadyn Wooten (13), Akot (12) and Stailee Heard (10) joined Gray in double figures. Meanwhile, the Utes had only two players meet that 10-point threshold, and that’s where they stopped.

Akot stuffed the stat sheet. Her dozen points were accompanied by six rebounds and four assists (no turnovers).

“She’s so versatile,” Hoyt said. “I think she’s the most-improved player in the league. Offensively, that’s really easy to see, but she guarded a guard on Saturday, one of the best scoring guards in the league, and then today she’s playing against true (centers) that are back to the basket. She is just so versatile for us.”

Monday afternoon’s game puts an end to a busy, but successful three-day stretch for the Cowgirls. OSU beat No. 16 Texas Tech by 10 on Saturday before turning around and beating the Utes in a rare weekday afternoon game for President’s Day.

“This was a March Madness setting,” Hoyt said. “You win a big game, then you gotta turn around two days later and repeat it. I think that was good for us.”

OSU is 21-7 on the year with Monday’s win being the Cowgirls’ 10th in the league. They’re one of five Big 12 teams with double-digit conference wins.

One of those teams will host the Cowgirls on Saturday in West Virginia. The Mountaineers are 21-6 and 11-4 in Big 12 play, sitting in third in the Big 12 standings.

Postgame News Conference