Oklahoma State Loses at No. 21 Baylor to Finish Regular Season
(This story originated with Oklahoma State University athletic media relations and was written by Ryan Cameron and was contributed to by Pokes Report publisher Robert Allen.)
WACO, Texas – Oklahoma State's women's basketball team closed out its regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 67-45 against No. 21 Baylor in front of 4,280 fans inside Foster Pavilion. Playing their third consecutive ranked opponent, the Cowgirls opened quickly, making three of their first five shots to take an 8-5 lead into the first media timeout. Defensively, OSU held the Bears to a 2-of-18 (11 percent) shooting effort in the period and led, 14-8, through the first 10 minutes.
In the second, Baylor used a 7-0 run to get within 16-15, before OSU quickly answered with a basket from Hannah Gusters. The Bears moved in front for the first time since early in the first quarter at the 3:40 mark before OSU tied it at 20 apiece on its next trip on a layup by Lior Garzon.
Despite shooting just 28 percent in the half, the Bears would outscore the Cowgirls by a 20-8 count to take a 28-22 lead at the break.
The Bears scored the first six points of the third quarter to pus the margin to double digits at 34-22 with 6:31 to go in the frame, forcing a Cowgirl timeout. After the timeout the Bears would add six more to make it a 12-0 run to start the period.
OSU would make just three of its 14 shot attempts in the quarter, while the Bears would connect on nine of their 18 shots to extend the margin to 46-29 with 10 minutes to go. A minute into the fourth, Baylor extended to a 20-point margin and led 54-31 at the 8:16 mark after hitting back-to-back treys.
Gusters scored 12 of her team-high 20 points in the final stanza.
Oklahoma State will open play in the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship on the second day facing No. 9 seed TCU. A potential Bedlam meeting would be ahead if the Cowgirls can beat TCU on Friday.
2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship
Thursday, March 7 - First Round
Game 1: No. 12 Texas Tech vs. No. 13 Houston, 5:30 p.m. CT
Game 2: No. 11 Cincinnati vs. No. 14 UCF, 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET
Friday, March 8 - Second Round
Game 3: No. 5 Baylor vs. Game 1 Winner, 11 a.m. CT
Game 4: No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. No. 9 TCU, 1:30 p.m. CT
Game 5: No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 BYU, 5:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. MT
Game 6: No. 6 West Virginia vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET
Saturday, March 9 - Quarterfinals
Game 7: No. 4 Iowa State vs. Winner Game 3, 11 a.m. CT
Game 8: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Winner Game 4, 1:30 p.m. CT
Game 9: No. 2 Texas vs. Winner Game 5, 5:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. MT
Game 10: No. 3 Kansas State vs. Winner Game 6, 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET
Monday, March 11 - Semifinals
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 1:30 p.m. CT
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 4 p.m. CT/3 p.m. MT/5 p.m. ET
Tuesday, March 12 - Championship
Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 8 p.m. CT/7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET