Dominant Win Gives Cowgirls Much-Needed Momentum Ahead of Big 12 Play

Oklahoma State finished nonconference play with a statement victory.

On Monday night, OSU women’s basketball beat Tulsa 90-58 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater in the Cowgirls’ nonconference finale. The win against the Golden Hurricane moved the Cowgirls to 11-2 overall, including an 8-0 mark at home, as they prepare for Big 12 action.

Micah Gray led the way for OSU in the matchup, scoring 20 points, but she might not have been the best player for OSU. Amari Whiting was just behind Gray in the scoring department with 18 points of her own, and she also added six rebounds and five steals.

While OSU didn’t necessarily have the most eye-opening shooting night, its defense ensured that it didn’t need a dominant offensive performance. The Cowgirls forced 31 Tulsa turnovers and scored 33 points off those takeaways.

Considering the absurd amount of turnovers the Cowgirls forced on Monday night, it’s safe to say that Jacie Hoyt’s squad got out a little frustration after losing Bedlam over the weekend. That loss to Oklahoma was the Cowgirls’ worst performance of the season, but it’s hard to find too much to pick apart about a mostly competitive loss to a top 10 team.

Still, OSU will need to find ways to be more effective against top-tier competition when Big 12 play comes around. With a relatively weak nonconference schedule, that matchup against the Sooners could have given the Cowgirls the boost they needed to face some tougher competition throughout the conference slate.

While the loss to Oklahoma knocked the Cowgirls out of the AP top 25, they are still comfortably in the projected NCAA Tournament field going into their Big 12 opener. In Charlie Creme’s latest Bracketology on ESPN, the Cowgirls fell to a No. 6 seed.

While OSU has had a somewhat rocky start to its season, there is still plenty of time for Hoyt’s squad to round into form. Of course, the ultimate goal for this OSU team, beyond winning the Big 12, would be to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

In order to do that, the Cowgirls would need to secure a top 4 seed, effectively meaning OSU would need to become a top 16 team in the country going into the tournament. With plenty of premier matchups to come over the next few months, that could certainly be an attainable goal for OSU.

With so much basketball left to be played, the Cowgirls can at least feel more confident going into their Big 12 opener against Cincinnati after such a dominant finish to nonconference play.