Five Thoughts on Cowgirls’ Exhibition Win and What It Means for the Season Ahead

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The No. 22 Cowgirls dismantled Langston 117-44 in Tuesday night’s exhibition, but given the hype around this team, the final score wasn’t noteworthy.

This was however, the first time we got a chance to see the new-look Cowgirls in action so there were still takeaways to glean from the game despite the lopsided score.

1. Looking for Liv

The Cowgirls took the court without one of their Big 3 on Tuesday night as Florida transfer guard Liv McGill was one of only three players who didn’t see the court at all. The other two were 6-foot-7 center Mojca Jelenc and Nebraska transfer Callin Hake, who appears to be going through the process of securing her fifth season of eligibility.

McGill’s absence was especially noteworthy considering she both represented the Cowgirls at Big 12 Media Days last week and reportedly scored 24 points and added 10 assists in the team’s closed-door scrimmage with No. 10 Iowa less than two weeks ago.

“Liv is great,” coach Jacie Hoyt said. “Yeah, she’s kind of day-to-day right now. We’re trying to figure some things out, and I know she’s probably the most competitive person that I’ve ever coached. So I know this is killing her to not be able to play, but she is handling it really well in a sense of pouring into her teammates and kind of being that coach from the sideline right now.”

Oklahoma State won’t need McGill to suit up anytime soon, but it would help the Cowgirls to get some game minutes in with all the expected starters before the non-conference schedule heats up.

Based on last season’s net rankings (not super reliable given roster movement but it beats nothing), the Nov. 15th trip to South Dakota State (ranked 44th last season) stands out as the first real test.

“Just getting the experience in a game,” Hoyt said of her top priority on Tuesday. “You know, I’ve said this a couple times, but (players on) this roster has not played one single minute in a game together yet, not one. And that’s crazy when you really think about it. You know, and none of them have been coached by me in a game besides Stailee (Heard).”

2. Unexpected Star of the Night

Yuting Deng’s addition to the class feels somewhat lost in the Audi Crooks-Liv McGill of it all.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday as she scored a team-high 20 points in large part because she led the team in both 3-pointers attempted (seven) and 3-point makes (four) while playing a team-high 31 minutes.

Deng, pronounced DUNN by the way, felt like a bit of a surprising starter on Tuesday night in part because she has only been with the team for three weeks after participating in competition with the Chinese National Team.

For those unfamiliar, this isn’t Deng’s first time with a Big 12 team as she averaged 6.6 points and 1.9 rebounds for Baylor last season while playing 33 games. She also played 13 games at Auburn in 2025 after joining the team midseason.

Deng was the only Cowgirl to knock down at least six shots, finishing 8-of-13 overall, and she added eight rebounds to finish in a three-way tie for second.

She started the game 3-of-8 from the floor only to end the game with five-straight makes.

Deng ranked 80th in the USA Today Top 100 transfers list this offseason, putting her fourth on OSU’s team behind Crooks (1st), McGill (2nd) and Ellie Brueggemann (36th). If anything she looked under-ranked given her ability to take over the game at times.

3. Hot off the Bench

Missouri State transfer Zoe Canfield checked into the game for the first time during the third quarter and quickly drilled back-to-back 3s. At the time that made five-consecutive 3-pointers for the Cowgirls which was a huge run considering the team started off 5-of-20 beyond the arc.

Canfield finished the game 3-of-4 overall, all from 3, in only 11 minutes of action. Freshman Cowgirl Addisyn Bollinger gave her a run for her money late, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the final quarter to end the game 3-of-5 beyond the arc and 4-of-6 overall.

Bollinger finished with only 10 minutes on the court, but she did enter the game considerably before Canfield, in case that means anything for the season ahead.

For comparison, Oklahoma State’s starters finished 7-of-16 with most of those coming from the previously mentioned Deng.

4. Audi Crooks’ Biggest Impact Might Surprise Uou

Crooks finished the evening with a team-high 13 rebounds and 14 points.

None of it is really worth discussing, considering her track record and the opponent. However, she caught my eye in the third quarter when the Cowgirls passed the ball inside to her and she kicked it back out the other side for a 3-point attempt. To be honest, I don’t even remember if it went in, likely not given she had only one assist, but it stood out because that feels like the kind of play OSU would have struggled with last season.

To be clear, Crooks wasn’t unguarded when this happened. Several Langston players were in the vicinity mucking up the passing lane for most players, but not Crooks.

“She should have had more assists tonight,” Hoyt said. “We just didn’t knock down some of the great kickouts that she had. But she’s been throwing me off in practice. She’s starting to do some no-look kickouts and things like that. And I think that was a part of her game that did need to grow, and that was a point of emphasis when she got here that we needed to work on, and I think she’s gotten a lot better at that.”

It will be interesting to see how having a center of Crooks’ talent inside impacts Hoyt’s offensive philosophy, if at all. But even if the Cowgirls still with the same-old, same-old Crooks’ presence should help the team open things up much easier this season.

5. Leftover Ramblings

Brueggemann, a Lindenwood transfer, was first off the bench (alongside Talexa Weeter). She missed her first three 3-point shots but bounced back to finish 3-of-6 from 3-point range overall.

It feels like her and starter Nene Ndiaye (1-of-4 3-pointers) could compete to lead the team in long-range shots attempts in the season. Ndiaye doesn’t get a bigger mention here because of how the game went, but she touched the ball a lot early on in this one.

LA Sneed didn’t wow as a scorer, only 4 points after going 1-of-6 from the floor. However she recorded 10 of OSU’s 26 assists while turning the ball over only twice. That will play, especially if the Cowgirls get McGill, who ranked ninth last season with 6.3 assists per game, back.

For those curious, Stailee Heard finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists. She also hit the court hard on a hustle play when the game was well out of reach in a way only someone as competitive as Heard would.