Cowgirls Magical Season Ends in NCAA Opening Round With 62-61 Loss to Miami
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.
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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.
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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.
