Cowgirl Hoops: Heard, Asi, Wooten Pick Up Big 12 Honors, Other Cowgirls Snubbed

STILLWATER — Jacie Hoyt brought notes to a midweek news conference.

The Big 12’s postseason honors were released Tuesday, which featured Cowgirl sophomore Stailee Heard on the All-Big 12 First Team, senior Anna Gret Asi on the Third Team and Jadyn Wooten made the league’s All-Big 12 Freshman Team. Micah Gray earned an honorable mention recognition. The league’s coaches voted on the awards.

Hoyt expressed how proud she was for those who were honored, but she also felt a few Cowgirls were snubbed — especially when it came to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team. The Cowgirls’ defense has allowed teams to shoot just 36.3% this season, which ranks second in the Big 12. OSU’s 3-point defense is the best in the league.

Absent from that All-Defensive team were OSU center Tenin Magassa and point guard Alexia Smith. Magassa had 54 blocks in Big 12 games, the most of any player in the league.

“She’s probably the one I feel the most strong got slighted or snubbed in the awards because for her to not make All-Defensive team, I just simply don’t understand,” Hoyt said. “She led the conference in blocks. We’ve got the 14th-ranked defensive in terms of efficiency, and she’s the anchor to that. She’s our rim protector. She’s everything to us defensively.”

Although Smith isn’t among the league’s leaders in steals, she was the Cowgirls’ go-to guard defender. That’s where Hoyt’s notes come in. She had written down all the premier players who had off nights against the Cowgirls thanks to Smith.

Smith held Hailey Van Lith, the Big 12 Player of the Year averaging 17.6 points a game this season, to 12 points as the Cowgirls upset the Horned Frogs in January. West Virginia’s JJ Quinerly averages 20.5 points a game, but when the Cowgirls beat WVU on Jan. 11, Quinerly scored a season-low 10 points. K-State’s Serena Sundell averages 13.5 points on 49% shooting, but against Smith in early February, Sundell scored 11 points on 31% shooting. UCF’s Kaitlin Peterson is the Big 12’s second-leading scorer, averaging 20.9 points a game. Smith held her to a season-low eight points.

That’s not a knock on those players. They’re all great. That’s the point as to why what Smith was doing defensively this season was so impressive. Van Lith, Quinerly and Sundell were all Big 12 First Team selections. Despite averaging 20 points a game, Peterson somehow earned only an honorable mention.

“I mean, come on — what more can you ask for from a defensive player,” Hoyt said. “Just her willingness to take on that role every single game and not bat an eye and just do what we ask her to do, that’s pretty special. I wish that people put more stock into what she did because I think that she also got snubbed a little bit.”

Perhaps the biggest snub of all, one Hoyt didn’t mention, was the fact that Hoyt didn’t win the league’s Coach of the Year, an honor that went to TCU’s Mark Campbell. Campbell and the Horned Frogs had an outstanding season, going 16-2 in conference play and winning the Big 12 regular season crown. But Hoyt’s Cowgirls went 14-16 last season and were picked 11th in the preseason poll just to go 24-5 this regular season and earn the conference’s 3 seed.

The Cowgirls seem to have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to being overlooked. Hoyt mentioned Tuesday how she thinks some projections of the Cowgirls NCAA Tournament seeding seems low. ESPN’s most-recent update has the Cowgirls as a 7 seed. Kansas State, a team OSU beat and finished higher than in the Big 12, is a projected 4 seed. The Cowgirls split games with West Virginia but finished higher than the Mountaineers in the conference table, but ESPN has WVU as a projected 6 seed. The answer to gaining some respect: win.

“The thing I love about this group, we’ve been underestimated all season long,” Hoyt said. “We got picked to finish 11th at the end of the day in the Big 12, and here we are with a double-bye and the 3 seed. Our players, they thrive off of that. We just have to continue to have the same mentality and approach that we’ve had all year long that we’ve got a lot to prove. You just gotta win. You just gotta win and wake them up, and that’s what we’ll continue to try and do.”

Full Big 12 Awards

Player of the Year: Hailey Van Lith, TCU
Freshman of the Year: Delaney Gibb, BYU
Newcomer of the Year: Hailey Van Lith, TCU
Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
Sixth Player of the Year: Yaya Felder, Baylor
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Gianna Kneepkens, Utah
Coach of the Year: Mark Campbell, TCU

All-Big 12 First Team
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Baylor
Audi Crooks, Iowa State
S’Mya Nichols, Kansas
Serena Sundell, K-State
Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State
Madison Conner, TCU
Sedona Prince, TCU
Hailey Van Lith, TCU
Gianna Kneepkens, Utah
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia

All-Big 12 Second Team
Sarah Andrews, Baylor
Aaronette Vonleh, Baylor
Delaney Gibb, BYU
Addy Brown, Iowa State
Ayoka Lee, K-State

All-Big 12 Third Team
Jillian Hayes, Cincinnati
Temira Poindexter, K-State
Anna Gret Asi, Oklahoma State
Jordan Harrison, West Virginia
Mayè Tourè, Utah

Honorable Mention: Arizona: Breya Cunningham; Arizona State: Jalyn Brown, Tyi Skinner; Baylor: Bella Fontleroy, Jada Walker; UCF: Kaitlin Peterson; Colorado: Frida Formann, Jade Masogayo; Iowa State: Emily Ryan; Kansas: Elle Evans; K-State: Jaelyn Glenn; Oklahoma State: Micah Gray; Texas Tech: Bailey Maupin, Jasmine Shavers; Utah: Kennady McQueen;  West Virginia: Kyah Watson

All-Big 12 Freshman Team
Lauryn Swann, Arizona
Delaney Gibb, BYU
Emely Rodriguez, UCF
Regan Williams, Kansas
Jadyn Wooten, Oklahoma State

All-Big 12 Defensive Team
Bella Fontleroy, Baylor
Zyanna Walker, K-State
Sedona Prince, TCU
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
Kyah Watson, West Virginia