Oklahoma State’s magical season has come to an end with a last-second 62-61 loss to Miami in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
With the loss, the Cowgirls finish the season with a 21-12 overall record, as well as a 10-8 record in Big 12 play.
Anna Gret Asi led the Cowgirls in scoring with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Naomie Alnatas was second on the stat sheet with 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting and 2-of-5 from 3-point range.
While she only had three points, Taylen Collins finished with 16 rebounds, nine coming on the defensive end.
As a team, the Cowgirls shot 38% from the field on the game, but struggled quite a bit in the second half shooting just 26% from the field and 27% from 3-point range. That’s after shooting 52% from the field in the first half and 50% from three.
It was opposite for Miami as they shot just 29% from the field in the first half, went 0-for-2 from three and 58% from the field and 44% from three.
The Cowgirls trailed the Hurricanes 10-8 with 3:42 left in the first quarter. That’s when the Cowgirls made a turn as they finished the first quarter on an 11-0 run to going into the second quarter with a 19-10 lead, which included a buzzer-beater three from Asi.
The Cowgirls were even better in the second quarter as they entered the break with a 17-point lead, 37-20, with Garzon nailing another buzzer-beater three at the end of the quarter.
That’s when things flipped for Miami. The Hurricanes came out of the break swinging as they tied the game up at 40 following an 18-3 run, the first tie since 10-10 at the 3:25 mark of the first quarter.
The only buckets up to the 1:01 mark for the Cowgirls came from Asi, a three and a jumper at the top of the key, giving OSU the lead back, 42-40. Collins hit her first bucket of the game with just :04 left in the quarter following her 12th rebound of the game to give the Cowgirls a four-point lead going into the fourth quarter, 44-40.
Miami took their first lead since 10-8 at the 3:25 mark of the first quarter with an early bucket in the fourth quarter to go up 45-44.
Miami hit back-to-back 3-pointers, one from Cavinder and Harden to make it their largest lead of the game, 53-46 with 7:05 remaining in the game.
After a handful of made free throws by the Pokes, Garzon and Asi nailed back-to-back threes to give the Cowgirls the lead back with 3:22 remaining in the game, 56-55.
Unfortunately, Miami went on a quick 5-0 run in less than two minutes to take a five-point lead with one minute left in the game, 61-56.
With just 4.9 seconds remaining, Asi drilled a huge 3-pointer to make it a one-point game, 62-61.
After a :30 Miami timeout, the Cowgirls force a five-second call on the in-bounds play. The Hurricanes fouled on the ensuing inbounds as they had a foul to give, allowing for a last-second shot by Alnatas, but it came up just short.
