Cowgirl Basketball's Loss to Arizona State Highlights OSU's Inconsistency

The Cowgirls can't string together the season it was hoping for.

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’s season continues to take unexpected turns.

After beating Arizona on Sunday for a second straight win and marking the Cowgirls’ fifth win in six games, OSU’s momentum was halted yet again. On Wednesday night, as the Cowboys beat No. 16 BYU in Stillwater, the Cowgirls fell at Arizona State 74-69, continuing their roller coaster of a season.

Coming into Wednesday night’s game, it appeared that OSU had a golden opportunity to continue rising in the Big 12 standings and bolster its NCAA Tournament bid. Instead, OSU again failed to take advantage of the moment and had yet another disappointing loss in a season that is inching closer to being a disappointment itself.

After spending the first several weeks of the season in the AP top 25, OSU has been looking to climb back into the rankings, and appeared to be making some progress. However, this loss dropped the Cowgirls to 18-6 and could be another reason why OSU’s final appearance in the AP poll ends up being its Dec. 8 ranking.

In some aspects, OSU should have been able to beat Arizona State. The Cowgirls outrebounded the Sun Devils 38-34 and won the turnover battle 14-10.

While those are typically important factors in winning and losing games, the ultimate factor is simply scoring, which OSU struggled without throughout. The Cowgirls finished the night shooting an abysmal 22-of-69 from the floor and 6-of-27 from three. Although OSU still managed a solid 19-of-22 night at the foul line, overcoming such inefficient numbers from the floor was too tall a task.

In a five-point loss, those types of shooting numbers might haunt the Cowgirls for the rest of the season, particularly if this loss ends up being a significant factor in the Big 12 standings or NCAA Tournament seeding.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this game for the Cowgirls was their success just a few days earlier. In Sunday’s win at Arizona, OSU shot 55.6% from the field and put up 88 points on the Wildcats.

While Arizona State is certainly a better team than Arizona, the Cowgirls’ inability to find consistency on offense has been a key storyline all season. With such rapid shifts in level of competition, OSU has to be ready to execute on any given night.

There’s still plenty of time left for OSU to get back to where it wants to be, but if Jacie Hoyt’s team can’t find some consistency, it might already be too late.

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