Cowgirl Basketball Needs Strong Stretch to Finish Season

Oklahoma State has been unable to find consistency in Big 12 play, and it needs to change things before it’s too late.

On Tuesday night, Cowgirl basketball had another opportunity to get a road win in conference play in a matchup it was favored in. Unfortunately for Jacie Hoyt and company, the Cowgirls were unable to take care of business yet again in a situation that looked like a golden opportunity for OSU to get a solid win.

Of course, that game was against Kansas State in Manhattan against a Wildcats squad that is now 14-12 and just above .500 in conference play. While OSU went into that matchup looking clearly better on paper, the teams are now just a game apart in the conference standings as the Cowgirls failed to gain the separation they’ve looking for.

With recent losses to Arizona State and Kansas State, the Cowgirls’ hopes of improving their NCAA Tournament standing have been dashed almost entirely. While making it into the tournament still appears likely, barring a collapse to finish the season, it’s still a bit disappointing how the Cowgirls have played up to this point.

Against Kansas State, the Cowgirls shot 40% from the field and 25% from deep while turning it over 15 times. Although the OSU defense was able to force the Wildcats into 17 turnovers, the home team also shot nearly 50% from the floor and nailed four of its eight 3-point attempts.

For OSU to overcome its inconsistency, it must find a rhythm offensively every night. With so much talent on that end, there shouldn’t be this many games where OSU struggles to get any real offense going.

With No. 16 Texas Tech coming to Stillwater on Saturday, OSU will have an opportunity to right some of its recent wrongs and come away with a quality win. Of course, if things go the other way and OSU struggles against a ranked opponent as it did earlier in the season, the Cowgirls could be inching closer to a disastrous finish.

Still, even with a loss to Texas Tech, the Cowgirls would have an opportunity to finish the season on a high note. The Cowgirls will have four games left after Texas Tech, which includes two matchups at home against unranked opponents.

Still, if OSU is simply looking at the end of its regular season schedule and plotting a way to survive instead of finishing strong, the season might already be a wash.