Cowgirl Hoops: Oklahoma State Drops Oral Roberts 112-62

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STILLWATER — After four games in seven days, the Cowgirls have outscored their opponents a combined 423-204.

Oklahoma State again had no issues Sunday, dispatching Oral Roberts 112-62 in a game where the Cowgirls shot 55% from the field and 44% from 3-point range. The Cowgirls led for 39:13 of the 40-minute game.

“Although we’ve been winning, there’s definitely a lot of areas we need to improve, and our coaches have been great,” Jacie Hoyt said. “We identify what we need get better at, we challenge them with that, and then they do it the next game or the next day in practice. It’s that, it’s their hunger to get better because it is a process. We can’t get caught up in the wins and losses. We just have to focus on getting better every day.”

Seven Cowgirls scored in double figures, with UCF transfer Achol Akot leading the way. She had 23 points, a career-high, on 15 shots to go with 10 rebounds. It was the fifth double-double of her career and her first in Stillwater.

Micah Gray (14), Jadyn Wooten (14), Stailee Heard (13), Amari Whiting (13), Lena Girdardi (12) and Haleigh Timmer (10) joined Akot in double figures.

“I just know if you help off, I have the best shooters in the country that will get the ball, and I’ll give it to them definitely,” Akot said. “If you don’t help off, I know I’m a good enough player to go up and finish the ball.”

Out of Classen SAS, Gray went 4-for-7 from 3 and had a career-high nine assists (her previous career-high was five).

Girdardi, a freshman, broke OSU’s single-game 3-point record against Langston when she drilled nine triples in just her third collegiate game. She added three more makes to her season 3-point tally Sunday, as she is now 18-for-43 (42%) from beyond the arc as a freshman.

Through four games, OSU has hit 59 3-pointers, meaning the Cowgirls are averaging 14.8 3-point makes a game. And they’ve done it at a ridiculous clip of 43%.

Perhaps even more impressive than that, the Cowgirls have 102 assists this season on 151 made baskets.

“I know there can be criticism about who we’re playing right now,” Hoyt said. “I’ll start by saying, I don’t think anyone really knows how good anyone is this time of year. Oral Roberts was a heck of a ball team last year (went 24-9), and I think that they’re still actually pretty good.

“But I don’t care who you’re playing against, to shoot 43%, like no offense y’all, but none of you could go out there and do that right now with no defense, with no pressure. That is really, really hard to do. So, that’s really impressive, but the assists are more impressive to me because we have so many weapons. That’s one thing, but it’s the selflessness. It’s the fact that maybe I just made three in a row, but on the next one, if you’re more open than me, I’m gonna pass it. That’s the mindset that our kids have right now, and that’s what I think is what’s gonna make us so hard to defend all season long.”

Jacie Hoyt’s Postgame News Conference