Jacie Hoyt Excited About Her Team Heading Into 2024-25
STILLWATER – It’s crazy to think about but we’re two weeks away from the start of the college basketball season. Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt met with the media on Monday ahead of the Pokes’ trip up to Kansas City for Big 12 Media Day.
“We’ve got an exhibition game next week, so that’ll be a good test to kind of play against different competition and see where we’re at. Overall, right now, we’re just trying to get everything in order of figuring out our lineups are going to be. We’ve had a little bit of a hard time figuring that out because we’ve had some people who have been and out due to injuries. Nothing serious, thankfully, but just a little hard to get a consistent flow with things. But I love where we’re at with the kids we’ve got now and we’re excited to get this thing going.”
The Cowgirls are set to host Southern Nazarene next Tuesday, Oct. 29, giving us our first look at the team.
"I still haven't really been able to see them at their best because of some of those people who have been out of the lineup,” said coach Hoyt. “So, for example, I've talked a lot about Jayden Wooten since we signed her. She's the most natural point guard that we have, and we brought her here to run the show. She has been out for a couple of weeks now, and that's forced other people to have to play out of position. So, I think I'm just still waiting to see it all come together. Thankfully, we don't have anyone with a season-ending injury, so it's nothing like that. But it kind of feels like last year, to be honest, just a little bit inconsistent. We don't have a lot of continuity, because people are in and out of the lineup. So, I think that's what I'm most curious about at this point, is just to see when we're at our best, and we have our guys out there, what that's going to look like."
Speaking of Wooten, she’s coming off a really great prep career in Kansas, where she earned the 2024 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year her senior season posting 19.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
"It's crucial, not just because of allowing us to push the ball at the pace we want, but for example, Anna Gret (Asi) is one of the best shooters in a conference, and if she has to bring the ball up the floor, you're taking her away from that, and being able to focus just more on spacing the floor and catching and shooting. Last year, we had that going on with Stailee (Heard). Stailee had to run point for us a little bit. We've got Alexia Smith, who is one of the best defenders, I think, that I've coached in a long time. She transferred to us from Virginia, and right now she's even had to take on that point guard role a little bit more, so we don't get to see her at her best defensively. So, Jadyn will take a lot of stress and pressure off of everyone else, and it's not necessarily about her allowing us to do what we want. But it's about her making other people around her better."
The Cowgirls are coming off a down season last year, going 14-16 overall and 7-11 in Big 12 play. Coach Hoyt is excited about this team, and we’ll get our first true look coming up on Nov. 4 as they play host to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.