Cowgirl Basketball Narrowly Misses Final AP Top 25

Oklahoma State had another successful season under Jacie Hoyt.

Oklahoma State Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt reacts after a score against Iowa State during the second quarter in the senior day women basketball at Hilton Coliseum on February. 25, 2026, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State’s season has been over for a couple of weeks, but it might have some momentum going into the offseason.

On Sunday afternoon, UCLA dominated the women’s national championship game against South Carolina to cap off the 2025-26 season. Like most other teams UCLA faced this season, OSU suffered a double-digit defeat against the Bruins in the second round of the NCAA Tournament following a first-round win against Princeton.

While the loss to UCLA ended the Cowgirls’ season, they fought hard throughout the second half to stay within striking distance, but they could never make the run they needed against an elite squad. Still, this season was an undeniable success for Jacie Hoyt and the Cowgirls.

In her fourth season at the helm, Hoyt secured her third NCAA Tournament appearance as the OSU head coach and won her first NCAA Tournament game with that win against Princeton. While OSU stumbled a bit throughout the regular season and didn’t quite meet its preseason expectations to be in the Big 12 title race, it still finished the season on a bit of a high note.

With the Cowgirls’ success in the NCAA Tournament, they were able to find some national recognition in the final AP poll of the season.

Unfortunately for the Cowgirls, their late success wasn’t quite enough to break into the top 25, but they managed to receive the third-most votes among unranked teams, effectively finishing the season ranked No. 28, ironically recieving two fewer votes than the Princeton team they proved to be better than in the first round. Although this offseason has already been a bit of a whirlwind for the Cowgirls as they’ve already had a lot of movement in the transfer portal, receiving some votes in the NCAA Tournament is still a nice sign of what direction the Cowgirls are headed in as the 2026 offseason is now in full swing.

Going into next season, Hoyt will have her hands full trying to build a roster capable of competing with the best in the Big 12, but she’s already built that type of roster in the past, so OSU should have full trust in its leader. While expectations for next season might not be as lofty as they were coming into this season, the Cowgirls should still be in a position to make some noise when 2027 comes around.

For now, the Cowgirls can reflect on the 2025-26 season and be excited about what the future might hold.