Cowgirls Dominate in Big 12 Opener at Cincinnati
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Oklahoma State had an encouraging start to conference play.
On Sunday, OSU women’s basketball won its Big 12 opener 91-63 at Cincinnati. Moving to 12-2 on the season, the Cowgirls made a statement after some rocky performances in nonconference play shook some of the hype that had surrounded them coming into the year.
Haleigh Timmer stole the spotlight for OSU, dropping 35 points and hitting nine threes in her Big 12 debut after transferring into Stillwater this offseason. Micah Gray added 21 as the Cowgirls’ second-leading scorer, with those two combining for nearly two-thirds of OSU’s points.
While the Cowgirls finished with a 28-point win, it wasn’t because of one big run, with the Cowgirls winning every quarter and steadily building their lead throughout. Of course, an 11-0 run in the second quarter to extend the lead from 5 to 16 certainly didn’t hurt.
While not much went wrong for the Cowgirs, Stailee Heard’s rough afternoon might be reason for concern. Scoring zero points and taking only five shots in 22 minutes of action, Heard didn’t perform anywhere near her All-Big 12 standards.
Of course, if OSU is able to win by such a margin in a matchup where Heard couldn’t get anything going, the Cowgirls might be just as dangerous as advertised on nights where she does get going.
The Cowgirls came into this season expected to be one of the top potential contenders in the Big 12 title picture and entered the year with a top 25 ranking for the first time since the 2014-15 season. While some dominant home wins to begin the year made it seem like things would go smoothly for OSU this season, a loss at St. John’s followed by a Bedlam loss in Oklahoma City a few weeks later left the Cowgirls unranked and with a couple of losses when Big 12 play came around.
Instead of piling onto those concerns, the Cowgirls left no doubt where they stand in the Big 12. Last season, a game like this at Cincinnati easily could’ve been a loss or a win that was far too close for comfort. Yet, this season’s Big 12 opener was about as comfortable as they come.
While this is still only one win for the Cowgirls and might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, getting a confidence boost at the start of conference play could be exactly what OSU needed to get on track.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.