‘By Myself Dying’: Stailee Heard Attacked Spring Workouts as the Only Cowgirl Left, Now She Is Ready to Capitalize

STILLWATER — When the Cowgirls started racking up wins in the transfer portal, the team’s lone returner (Stailee Heard) couldn’t fully appreciate it at the time.

“It just wasn’t like hitting me at the time because at the time I was in spring workouts, doing spring workouts by myself, dying,” Heard said. “So I didn’t really have any time to process it.”

Both Heard and coach Jacie Hoyt had some laughs at what it was like for the last Cowgirl standing to run through the spring by herself.

“Well, I mean, it was awesome,” Hoyt said. “She got all the attention from everyone, right? And sometimes I don’t know that she loved that, but I mean, she got it, and she worked hard, and it was really neat to see her understand that that was an opportunity for her to really grow her own personal game.”

Hoyt said 3-point shooting was a big point of emphasis for Heard in the spring, and it’s safe to say she had plenty of time to get shots up.

That area of Heard’s game regressed last season as she finished with a career-worst 30% from deep. Ahead of her sophomore year, that became a point of emphasis. Heard responded with a career-best 41% shooting performance, knocking down 59-of-143 shots behind the arc.

That was a huge jump in both attempts and percentage from her freshman season.

Heard from 3:
Freshman: 31-of-87 (35.8%)
Sophomore: 59-of-143 (41.3%)
Junior: 46-of-153 (30.1%)

“As good as it has been at some points, just trying to get more consistent,” Hoyt said of Heard’s progress as a 3-point shooter. “And I’ve seen that pay off this summer. She’s a knockdown 3-point shooter so far at this point. This spring was really good for her to grow in her confidence and just work on parts of her game that, you know, if she would have been with other teammates, maybe couldn’t have put as much attention on.”

As is usually the case, player and coach were in lockstep when it came to describing the spring.

“Going through my spring workouts, I was just focused on getting better myself, just because I knew I had all the talent coming to help me out,” Heard said.

Heard spent a lot of the spring working one-on-one with assistant coach Mandi Carver.

“All the managers and GAs they were helping out and rebounding and stuff,” Heard said. “But it was actually pretty fun. It was, you know, I got to know coach Mandi more just one-on-one. I got to know and have some fun with the managers and stuff, but it was a grind, but it was definitely very fun.”

At one point on Wednesday, someone hit Heard with THE question. Her loyalty to Hoyt and Oklahoma State has always seemed unshakable, but losing every other teammate is still an undeniable shift in the program’s foundation.

What kept her in Stillwater?

“I love this place, regardless of wins or losses,” Heard said. “I love the people I go to war with every day. I love being here, having the support staff that I have around here. There’s nothing really negative to say about this school, about this place. So, I don’t know why I would leave if there’s nothing negative.”