Cowgirl Basketball: No. 21 Oklahoma State Beats Cincinnati 74-64 in Home Finale

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STILLWATER — The Cowgirls have won pretty plenty of times this season, but on Wednesday they proved they can also win a little ugly.

Oklahoma State beat Cincinnati 74-64 in a game where three Cowgirls and one Bearcat fouled out. There were 44 personal fouls were called — 22 on OSU and 22 on Cincinnati. The teams combined to shoot 58 free throws. The teams combined to shoot just 34% from the field and 27% from 3-point range.

“Overall, I thought that it wasn’t a pretty game for us by any means,” OSU coach Jacie Hoyt said, “but just proud that we found a way to win.”

The Cowgirls led by as many as 24, but that lead got cut down to eight in the final minute.

OSU took a 38-21 lead into halftime after holding Cincinnati to just 24% shooting in the first 20 minutes. OSU forced eight Bearcat turnovers in the first half, which led to 12 points for the Cowgirls. Anna Gret Asi led OSU with nine first-half points. Stailee Heard was in the early stages of flirting with a triple-double, going into the locker room with seven points, seven rebounds and four assists. She finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and the four assists.

A stretch early in the third built what turned out to be an insurmountable lead. The Cowgirls came out of the break hot, hitting their first five shots of the second half. That stretch finished with a Micah Gray 3-pointer, giving OSU a 51-27 lead. The Cowgirls would go cold from there, though, missing their next dozen field-goal attempts, allowing the Bearcats to cut OSU’s lead to 54-39 after three quarters.

OSU centers Praise Egharevba and Tenin Magassa each fouled out in the fourth quarter. After that, the Cowgirls used the 5-foot-11 Heard at center. Macey Huard also fouled out late, and then Cincy guard A’riel Jackson picked up her fifth foul. Eighteen of the game’s final 23 points were scored at the foul line. Cincy cut the Cowgirls’ lead to 70-62 with 40 seconds to play, but Alexia Smith hit four straight free throws to push the lead back to 12 before the Bearcats got a late layup and elected to not foul down 10 with five seconds to play.

“Cincinnati, they’re just a tough team,” Hoyt said. “I think they play so hard. I think their coach does a great job of just getting them to play regardless of what the score says, and that’s what they did tonight with us. We went up pretty big, and they just scrap and claw and hung around more than we would’ve liked.”

Despite being a meh shooting night by the Cowgirls’ standards, they were sharing the rock. OSU had 16 assists on 21 made baskets. Heard, Asi and Wooten each had four. Five Cowgirls finished in double figures: Asi (15), Gray (14), Heard (12), Magassa (12) and Smith (10).

“We had 10 assists at halftime, and I thought we were doing a great job of moving the ball and finding the open man,” Hoyt said. “I think that we actually did that the second half, too, but we just didn’t make shots.”

This was OSU’s home finale, and it was a great year for the Cowgirls on Eddie Sutton Court. OSU finished 17-1 at home. That’s the most home wins in program history. The only home loss the Cowgirls suffered was to Kansas, and OSU gets a chance to avenge that Sunday when the two teams play in Lawrence.

OSU is 23-5 overall and 13-4 in Big 12 play with the trip to Allen Fieldhouse being all that’s left in the regular season. OSU has locked up a top four seed in the Big 12 tournament, which is a big deal because those top four receive two byes in the Big 12 tournament. A win Sunday would secure the three seed.

“This team has continued to just do really impressive things,” Hoyt said. “Tonight, just making history again with the most (home) wins in a regular season. We just have so much to be proud of. We still have so, so much to play for, but it’s certainly nice on nights like this when things come to an end to look back and just see everything that we’ve accomplished. We’re really proud. I’m really proud of this group.”

Postgame News Conference