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‘She’s a Matchup Nightmare’: Heard Drops 28 to Push Cowgirls Past Arizona State

Heard is averaging 20.3 points against Big 12 foes.

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1 year ago

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

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STILLWATER — Fresh off dropping a career-high point total in Lubbock, Stailee Heard nearly set another personal best Wednesday.

Oklahoma State beat Arizona State 83-71 on Wednesday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Heard dropped 28 points on the Sun Devils. It was her seventh time eclipsing 20 in what is her sophomore season. This performance against ASU comes just a few days after Heard scored 34 against Texas Tech. Heard has been held under double figures only one time in conference play this season and is now averaging 20.3 a game against Big 12 foes.

“She’s a matchup nightmare,” Arizona State coach Natasha Adair said. “I mean, she can post up the littles. She can shoot it from the perimeter. She plays as hard as I don’t know what. … She’s just an elite player, a next-level player, and she plays hard from start to finish. She can shoot it. She can score inside. She’s just a matchup nightmare.”

Heard got started early, hitting a pair of 3s in the first quarter and finishing the opening frame with eight points. She finished the night 5-for-9 from 3-point range. It’s an area of her game she’s expanded upon during the offseason. As a freshman, Heard shot 87 3s, hitting at a still solid 36% clip. Well, heading into February, she’s already attempted 88 this season and his hitting at a ridiculous 45% clip.

“Honestly, I think my role is different this year,” Heard said. “I think just getting in the gym this summer and we talked about expanding my game, stepping out, expanding my range, just shooting the 3 more. I think that just speaks to my leadership, scoring at all three levels. That’s just harder to guard.”

Heard came out of the halftime break strong, as well, scoring 11 points in the third quarter alone before hitting two more 3s in the fourth.

Not only a scorer, Heard brought down 11 rebounds, marking here eighth double-double of the year.

It’s not quite February yet, so this is probably a little early, but if Heard keeps this up, she could make a push to be the Cowgirls’ first All-American since Natasha Mack in 2020-21 … and again, Heard is only a sophomore.

“Unfortunately, I think a lot of things are pretty political, and there’s some really, really good basketball players across the country,” OSU coach Jacie Hoyt said. “I think women’s basketball is in just an amazing place. Do I think she’s one of the best players in the country? Absolutely. I think the coolest thing about Stailee is she could really care less about any of that.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know she had that many points tonight because I’m just trying to coach our team, and that’s what she’s doing for us as a player. She’s out there coaching. She’s out there leading and just finding ways to help us win. I think her scoring has just been a byproduct of that, but there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s one of the best players in the country and certainly one of the best in the Big 12.”

Credit Arizona State, the Sun Devils didn’t quit on Wednesday. OSU led by as many as 22 in the third quarter, but Arizona State cut that lead in half midway through the fourth. But OSU was just too much.

The Cowgirls were good (and almost always are) on the fastbreak, outscoring the Sun Devils 21-11 in fastbreak points. OSU also had 20 assists (on 30 made shotes) to only nine turnovers. It’s the fifth time this season the Cowgirls have had at least 20 assists.

The biggest example of that playmaking was freshman Jadyn Wooten, who continues to pop. Wooten didn’t score a ton Wednesday, putting up six points, but she tied a season-high with seven assists and did so without turning the ball over. It’s the second time this season the young point guard has gone an entire game without a turnover. On the season, she has 73 assists to 40 turnovers.

“Honestly, I stay on her pretty hard because I know how she can play and what she can do,” said Heard of Wooten. “Sometimes she’s just careless with the ball. She’s like that in practice. She’s just too casual sometimes, but I tell her all the time, freshman year is hard but she has to stay focused. She’s on a really good team this year, so she has no room to relax.”

And though Wooten had only six points, two of those were perhaps the most impressive of the night when the 5-6 Wooten drove the lane against the 6-foot Makayla Moore in the first half. Wooten contorted her body mid air as smooth as can be to find an angle and get the bucket.

The win makes the Cowgirls 18-3 this season and 8-2 in Big 12 play. With eight games to play in the regular season, OSU has already surpassed its conference win total (and overall win total) from a season ago.

OSU has a tough stretch of games coming up, first traveling to No. 21 West Virginia for a game at 11 a.m. (CT) Saturday in Morgantown before hosting No. 11 Kansas State on Feb. 8 (a week from Saturday).

Postgame News Conference

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