Cowgirl Basketball Can't Afford to Waste Opportunities

Winning on Tuesday night is crucial for the Cowgirls.

Mar 22, 2025; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; Oklahoma State Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt watches from the sideline as they take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Oklahoma State continues to get more opportunities, but it must start taking advantage of them.

OSU women’s basketball has been a roller coaster all season. After starting the year ranked and looking to have the best season in program history under Jacie Hoyt, there hasn’t been much smooth sailing.

Last week, the Cowgirls were unable to win in Tempe, falling to a solid Arizona State squad in the midst of one of their easiest stretches of the season. Still, the Cowgirls bounced back on Saturday afternoon with an 81-58 win at UCF to get back on track.

Now, OSU will be in Manhattan on Tuesday night for its lone battle against Kansas State this season. According to ESPN Analytics, the Cowgirls have a 70.1% chance of pulling out the win. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, given that OSU had a 79% chance of winning at Arizona State and a 70.3% chance of winning at Colorado, which make up the Cowgirls past two losses.

Those losses are also the only two losses OSU has suffered in its past eight games. Simply taking care of business in games it was projected to win would’ve netted OSU an eight-game winning streak going into Tuesday, a likely top 25 ranking and a better seed in the NCAA Tournament than the No. 8 seed that ESPN currently projects.

While it’s too late for the Cowgirls to fix those errors, there is still more than enough time to make up for those mistakes. With another six regular season games to go, the Cowgirls will get another two chances to face currently ranked opponents.

Winning those games would be huge for Hoyt and company in the big picture, but those games also won’t matter as much if the Cowgirls don’t begin taking care of business in games like the one coming up on Tuesday. 

This season, the Wildcats are 13-12 overall but 6-6 in conference play, showing that they can compete against Big 12 competition. With wins against Texas Tech and Arizona State this season, Kansas State is clearly not a team OSU can afford to overlook, especially with those Red Raiders set to come to Stillwater on Saturday.

It won’t be an easy game for OSU to win, as evidenced by its most recent losses, but it’s also a game that OSU is more than capable of winning. If the Cowgirls want to reach their goals, they must take advantage of opportunities like this.

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