Cowgirls Lead From 10 Second Mark On, Punish Morgan State 92-38
STILLWATER – Could it be that simple? Sometimes it is and for the No. 22 Oklahoma State Cowgirls it is when you are hosting an outtalented and outmatched Morgan State squad that was fresh off a Wednesday visit to the Big 12’s Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado put a Rocky Mountain beating on the Bears 83-38. The Cowgirls seemed challenged to win by more and did 92-38, a 54-point difference. Oklahoma State starts 2-0 against two cupcakes for the start. Morgan State fell to 1-2 after facing a pair of Big 12 foes.
“I’m really proud and I challenged the team at halftime and they stepped up and started playing Cowgirl basketball,” head coach Jacie Hoyt said. “Specifically in the third quarter and I thought Liv (mcGill) was a big part of that the way she contributed in so many ways.”
It started off with the opening tip as a slim Friday night opening doubleheader crowd of around 800 got a fill of the newcomers, Audi Crooks won the tip sending it to Liv McGill who passed to Heard off the lane and she sent the ball inside to Crooks for the first of her 14 points and a 2-0 lead. McGill tried to get her offense in gear and had two misses, one on a drive and the other on a short jumper. Then the all-around talent was fouled, hit a free throw, and then the next time down scored on a one handed scoop layup for a 7-4 lead. McGill would wind up with a monster line in the scorebook that included eight rebounds and eight assists.
The first quarter, which in a game like this was as close to a definitive moment as you will get, was awful for the visitors. They turned the ball over five times in the first four minutes, eight times in the quarter. They finished the first quarter shooting 16 percent. The Cowgirls were a little sluggish from the field too, but three pointers from Nene Ndiaye (transfer from Rutgers) at the wing and Callin Hake (transfer from Nebraska) from the top of the key pushed the lead to 15-4. It was 19-4 after the first 10 minutes.
It was a lead that would not back up, but it was a performance that would get plenty of critique from head coach Jacie Hoyt and her staff. Teams that lay ahead like South Dakota State on the road Nov. 15, Washington and UMass in Fort Myers, Fla. for Thanksgiving weekend, and No. 1 South Carolina on national TV Dec. 6 will be much more relevant tests for this team.
That said there were still highlights, in the second quarter Liv McGill with a stop and start drive down the baseline got the crowd out of their seats and a 23-8 lead. Oklahoma State seemingly could take the ball away about anytime they wanted to. Ndiaye just picked the pocket of Morgan State’s Yonta Vaughn and drove down for a layup and a 29-8 lead.
The next possession last year’s Division II Player of the Year at Fort Hayes State Talexa Weeter fired up a three from the top of the key. The ball was released as the officials whistled a foul on the Bears, so it counted and was good for a 32-11 lead midway through the second quarter.
Ndiaye was amazing as she nailed another three from the deep wing to make it 37-11. If there was a Cowgil not having as much fun it might have been Crooks, who drew the majority of the defense that Morgan State played.
Meanwhile, McGill sliced and diced with her drives, a left-handed drive down the left side of the lane brought her to 13 points and the halftime score to 42-15. McGill would add 11 points in the second half to lead the Cowgirls in scoring with 24.
“I think everyone expects us to be offense, offense, offense and while we cetainly have a lot of offensive weapons and we know that is where a lot of our success wil come,” Hoyt said. “I am most proud of our defense and I think that is something that a lot of folks may not have seen coming.”
The second half was just more of the same as the Cowgirls extended the lead to 68-23. The dangerous moment in the third period came when Ndiaye on the break tried to go inside to a sprinting Heard and she was wiped out on the play and hit the floor hard. She did get up after a few minutes and left on her own power. The officials did not rule it as flagrant. The Cowgirls played tough defense throughout, but you could tell the defensive intensity picked up after the foul on Heard.
“We talk a lot about sisterhood and whenever you see a sister go down like that it doesn’t feel good, but it is also has a way of bringing people together and the talk in our huddle was ‘let’s go.””
“When a teammate goes down, it is a time to step up,” McGill said of that moment in the game.
A few possessions later Ndiaye fed Crooks inside and she made an acrobatic banker for her 10th point of the game. That marked 100 straight games in college for Crooks to hit double-digits. Crooks is the third player in Big 12 history and the 12th player in NCAA history to accomplish that feat. She finished with 14 for the game. She also had 11 rebounds. Ndiaye had 16 points for the Cowgirls.
“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” Crooks said. “It’s a good accomplishment but it is not going to deter my attention from the main thing. It’s great have accolades, but we have to keep the main thing, the main thing, and we didn’t play up to our standard tonight.”
The Cowgirls shot 52.8 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and held Morgan State to 23.5 percent shooting from the field. It wasn’t pretty and next one won’t be either when the Cowgirls invite the school kids for a field trip game at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 9 when they host Northwestern State from Louisiana.
