Oklahoma State Can’t Keep Up with UCLA, but Cowgirls Look Much Better than Middle of the Bracket in Second-Round Loss

STILLWATER — The top seeds spent the second round of the NCAA Tournament blowing past their opposition with ease. The first three No. 1s to take the court, won their games by 40, 42 and 53 points.

Oklahoma State couldn’t snap the streak the No. 1 seeds were on, but the Cowgirls proved to be a much tougher out than everyone else, falling to UCLA on Monday night 87-68.

Despite trailing by 20-plus points for most of the second quarter, Oklahoma State refused to give up, cutting the deficit down to 13 points at one point in the third and as low as 14 points early in the fourth.

Although the season ended sooner than coach Jacie Hoyt and her players hoped, that doesn’t mean the Cowgirls were without memorable performances on Monday evening.

Achol Akot maintained her hot streak, scoring 23 points after scoring at least 18 in four of the last five which included a career-high 28 in the first-round win over Princeton.

Sophomore Jadyn Wooten seemed to spend most of the third quarter in the air as she knocked down 4-of-6 shots, almost all of which were jumpers. She finished with 18 points.

While its harder to capture in the box score, Amari Whiting’s defense proved critical at times, and freshman Lena Girardi made scoring look effortless as she finished 2-of-3 overall, all beyond the arc.

Unfortunately for the Cowgirls, the freshman was the only player who hit multiple 3s on Monday night as the team finished 5-of-20. That wasn’t close to enough considering UCLA dropped 7-of-17 deep shots while also outscoring the Cowgirls on turnovers 16-3 and second-chance points 24-10.

Oklahoma State didn’t lose either the turnover or the rebounding battle by much. OSU turned it over 11 times compared to UCLA’s seven, and the Cowgirls finished with two fewer rebounds overall and one more offensive one.

But everything seemed hard for OSU’s offense for most of this one while UCLA seemed to get points effortlessly for most of the first half and stretches later in the second.

Oklahoma State finished the season 24-10 overall, and the team did get Hoyt’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win.