Cowgirls Pound Syracuse, Advance to Face 33-1 Mississippi State

The Oklahoma State Cowgirls won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2014 by defeating the Syracuse Orange 84-57 (and properly avenged the bubble mess on the men’s side!)

The Cowgirls were led by freshman Jaden Hobbs, who went — this is not a typo — 8 for 9 from 3-point range and had a career high 27 points. Kaylee Jensen added 19 points and 12 boards and Loryn Goodwin had 19 points, 5 boards and 8 assists. Hobbs also broke the OSU single-game record for 3-pointers.

“I was super confident,” said Hobbs. “My teammates did a great job of finding me on the court and that put me in a good position to be able to take the shots that I did.”

Nothing like #MarchMadness #okstate pic.twitter.com/QyTROUilaD

— Cowgirl Basketball (@OSUWBB) March 18, 2018

The Oklahoma State defense also held the Orange to a 33 percent clip from the field and helped them to their 11th all-time Tournament victory. They are now 4-4 under Jim Littell in the NCAA Tournament.

I ? you @OSUWBB. Keep pushing! #LetsWork

— Mike Boynton (@thacoachmike) March 17, 2018

“We were really excited to be here and play,” said Littell. “We haven’t won a tournament game in our senior’s time here, which was motivation for us to get here and win a tournament game.

“We want to see just how deep we can go. All week the preparation was really good. Our team played great and we played as good as we could possibly play tonight. We played great offense and we slowed them down extremely well. These ladies were amazing, we pressed the ball really well and I’m proud of them.”

Now OSU gets 33-1 Mississippi State, which pounded Nicholls 95-50 (nothing compared to UConn’s 140-52 victory over St. Francis). The Cowgirls only have three Sweet 16 appearances in their history (1991, 2008 and 2014), and they’ll have to pull off a massive upset for No. 4. Still, they’re reveling in this victory for the time being.

“It feels really good,” said Goodwin. “My dream was always just to get to this moment. I’ve been to four schools and haven’t done this until now, so I was just really excited to be here with my team. I know Syracuse’s team has some young players, and we have some older players who’ve experienced this type of thing before.”

OSU and Mississippi State will play at 8 p.m. on Monday on ESPN2 (right after the OSU NIT game).