Tenin Magassa Got Cheated, the Cowgirls Post Should Have Been Big 12 Player of the Week

STILLWATER – Remember, Oklahoma State was picked 11^th in the Big 12 Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Oh yeah, way down at eleven and now that the season is concluded, Jacie Hoyt and her team way outperformed their preseason status and have a 7-1 record over the top seven seeds in the tournament including wins over each team and a split with West Virginia. The Cowgirls clinched that spot on Sunday with a 57-51 hardfought, physical win at Kansas. Part of the reason they won was a 20-point and 16-rebound effort from post Tenin Magassa. The transfer from Rhode Island originally out of Morsang-Sur-Orge, France; Magassa also had 12 points and hit a clutch six-of-seven free throws in a 74-64 win over Cincinnati, another slugfest kind of contest.

ESPN

Magassa at Kansas, 20 points, 16 rebounds.

“I thought Tenin Magassa was a huge difference maker,” Hoyt said in her postgame at Kansas. “When our team is going 5-for-23 from the three-point line that’s not good for us. You’ve got to find other ways to win. That is where I’m really proud because i thought Tenin made a huge difference with the double-double.”

Magassa did things that really made a big difference in where her team finished. Iowa State’s Audi Crooks (co-player), West Virginia’s JJ Quinerly (co-player) and BYU’s Delaney Gibb (freshman) were voted for the final Big 12 women’s basketball weekly awards of the 2024-25 season. I’m not saying Crooks and Quinerly weren’t important and that they were padding individual numbers. I’m not, but you have to look at how some players take on MVP roles in getting their team to where they want to be. 

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Good on free throws, 12 of her last 14.

Magassa has come a long way this season and Hoyt, who has seen her team develop each step of the way, feels Magassa’s development has been huge. She came in a good defender with limited offensive game. Not anymore, she has improved.

“I was frustrated after two fouls (in the first half vs. Cincinnati), coming back hand and scoring that first basket in the half felt good. The free throws, I’ve been working on it (12-14 on free throws in the last two games),” Magassa detailed. “At the beginning of the season it was not my best thing, but I’ve been getting better. 

“I’m so happy and I love my teammates,” Magassa added. “I really love it here.”

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Hoyt feels her post has worked hard.

“She’s grown so much,” Hoyt said. “Her confidence on the floor is so much greater. As a coach it is why you do what you do.”

Oklahoma State won’t play until Friday at 8 p.m. after getting a pair of byes. Magassa will be there and the Big 12 is still going to have to deal with this ever improving 6-6 growing dynamo. 

I promise you that Jacie Hoyt won’t leave home without her. She is becoming as important as Stailee Heard, Anna Gret Asi, and any other of the Cowgirls. When the three isn’t dropping then go inside. If it is dropping then Magassa helps control the other end of the floor.