Could In-Season Trend Propel Cowgirls to First NCAA Tournament Win Under Jacie Hoyt?

STILLWATER — When Oklahoma State takes the court on Saturday night at 6:30 against 9 seed Princeton, the Cowgirls (23-9, 12-6 Big 12) will attempt to end one streak while continuing another.

There’s no question the Cowgirls have made strides under coach Jacie Hoyt, who has the team in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons. Under her leadership, the Cowgirls have won 65.4% of their games during those seasons.

That’s the fifth-best four-year record by winning percentage in Cowgirl history.

Cowgirls best four-year records by %:
1987-91: 67.7% (84-40 overall)
2011-15: 66.7% (88-44)
1991-94: 66.4% (81-41)
2006-10: 65.7% (88-46)
2022-26: 65.4% (83-44); Hoyt

Hoyt’s Cowgirls are also responsible for nine wins against AP Top 25 teams, which accounts for 16% of the program’s all-time victories against ranked competition.

The one thing OSU hasn’t done yet under Hoyt is win an NCAA Tournament game after losing by six to 10 seed South Dakota State last season and by a single point to 9 seed Miami in 2023.

“I do want to take a step forward now and win in the tournament,” Hoyt said. “I am definitely ready for that, and I think our kids are as well.”

On paper, Oklahoma State’s best chance under Hoyt seemed to be last year when the Cowgirls entered the NCAA Tournament with a 4-2 record against teams seeded sixth or higher, with one of the losses coming by four points in overtime. Those Cowgirls were 7-3 overall against the field, and the 2023 group was 8-6.

The current team is 4-6 overall against Tournament teams and 0-4 against teams seeded sixth or higher. To make things even more confusing, the Cowgirls beat 7 seed Texas Tech by 10 and 8 seed Iowa State twice by 11 points or more, but then split with 10 seed Colorado and lost to fellow 10th-seeded Arizona State by five points.

An inability to separate itself from fellow Big 12 contenders, including in the conference quarterfinals loss to Kansas State, undoubtedly played a role in Oklahoma State’s middle-of-the-road seed line.

But box scores don’t tell the full story when it comes to Oklahoma State’s season, especially recent performances.

“As much as we were a little bit heartbroken at the start of the week,” Hoyt said. “I’ve just really seen them bounce back and recover.

“And you know, one of the great things for us is we have never lost back to back games this season, and our kids know that they just have a really great response to them when we trip up. So I’m excited to see what this response looks like.”

Oklahoma State’s best win of the season arguably came on the heels of a loss, when the Cowgirls handed then-No. 16 Texas Tech its fourth loss of the season inside Gallagher-Iba Arena on Valentine’s Day.

Sophomore Jadyn Wooten paced the team that day with 16 points while four other Cowgirls scored either 12 or 13 points.

Although some have criticized the program for an inability to win big games outside of GIA (OSU is 7-8 away from home) the Cowgirls proved they could do it at the end of the season beating Iowa State 88-77 on the road after what Hoyt later described as a shakeup to “shock the system” when it came to road games.

That win, arguably the second-biggest of the season, came four days after the Cowgirls were blown out at West Virginia by 32 points, notably without Wooten.

Since then, the Cowgirls have played one game away from home, the devastating 1-point loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 quarterfinals when a somewhat controversial foul call sent the Wildcats to the line with 1.3 seconds left.

“It’s one of those things you never want to have to learn a lesson that way,” Hoyt said. “But I know that our kids will learn from it and be better.”

Despite the disappointing result in the last game, Hoyt still believes the Cowgirls are playing their best basketball these days.​

She also thinks this year will be much different, considering four of the Cowgirls’ top six players returned from last season and a fifth, Haleigh Timmer, actually beat them in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think we can kind of bypass some of the distractions that can come with the tournament now and really just focus on basketball,” Hoyt said. “Where maybe the last couple times, it’s like so new and shiny to everyone that I did have to kind of manage that a little bit more than what I think I will this year.”