Streaking South Dakota State Upsets Cowgirls in 1st Round of the NCAA Tournament
(Oklahoma State University Athletic Media Relations and the NCAA contributed to this story.)
STORRS, Ct. – Oklahoma State had confidence and was more than ready for a chance to make a national splash in what has been a very good season, but it was a school from Cowgirl head coach Jacie Hoyt’s past coaching in the Summit Conference that made the splash and will now try to pull off the hurculean task of knocking off No. 2 seed UConn on their home floor. The Jackrabbits extended a 19-game win streak to 20 by beating No. 7 seed Oklahoma State 74-68 inside Harry Gampel Pavilion.
"These types of games are always really hard to have the right words and be able to put all your thoughts together, but this has been the most amazing season of my life, and it's a testament to the character of every single person in our program,” head coach Jacie Hoyt said in her opening statement. “While I absolutely hate the way that things ended today, I'm so proud. I'm proud of every single person. I'm proud of what we've built. The toughness, the love, the joy, it's uncommon, and that's what we set out to be this season was uncommon on the floor, off the floor. Quite frankly, no one picked us to be here. It's a team that was picked 11th and finished third in the Big 12. No one saw us being in the tournament. No one saw us doing all the things that we did. While I'm really proud of that and it was amazing, it's just the journey that I'm most proud of and thankful for. I'm incredibly grateful for just an amazing group of young women who I'm going to talk about to Harlow for the rest of her life, and we'll be able to able to look back together, and I'll be able to tell her about this season. I'm grateful for a team that made everything so enjoyable for me. I'm really excited about what the future is going to look like underneath the leadership that we have in the locker room and the culture that we have right now."
The first half was an up-and-down game and it finished with the Cowgirls feeling good for probably the last time in the contest as Anna Gret Asi knocked down a three-pointer from the wing for a 31-24 lead with four seconds left in the half.
Gret Asi would finish the game with 16 points and was 4-of-7 from three-point range. Stailee Heard was solid as well with 20 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-16 shooting.
Oklahoma State did extend their halftime lead out to 37-26 for an 11-point margin, but from the seven minute mark of the third quarter South Dakota State went on a grinder run of 24-to-10 in the scoring column to take a 50-47 lead that they would never relinguish.
On top of that the Cowgirls went scoreless for a 2:41 period combined from the final 30 seconds of the third quarter into the fourth quarter and by that time the Jackrabbits had taken an eight point lead.
The Jack Rabbits dominated the boards 47-29 and they held a 12-6 advantage on offense boards and 35-23 on the defensive glass. Shooting and turnovers were not a factor, but play in the paint was where South Dakota State owned that part of the court.
"Well, first of all, I think South Dakota State is really good at going and rebounding,” coach Hoyt said of the rebounding. “Their guards specifically. I think that's a little bit unique to a lot of the teams that we've played. So a lot of it came from guard play, which our guards needed to be better, but I do think that definitely not to make excuse, but when you've got a rim protector like Tenin, and then you don't think you're going to have her against the caliber of post player that South Dakota State has, it wasn't as big of an emphasis as it should have been this last week because we were just so concerned with how we were going to guard in the post. You know, it's just a sucky situation. I mean, I could have been better at preparing them. At the same time I think we were making the most with what we were going through, but credit to South Dakota State. I mean, they wanted it more I thought on certain plays. Definitely not used to that from our team, but I think South Dakota State, I mean, they're experienced. All those kids, they've been here. Our kids haven't. That's a part of where we're at as a program right now. You know, just learning. Okay, we got to the tournament. What does it take to win in the tournament? I thought they made winning plays today. We didn't make some of those winning plays that we needed to, but at the same time experience, you can't do anything about it. So I know, I know, that in the future what happened today is going to stick with the kids that we've got. When we're back here in a year, it's not going to be the same story. You live and you learn, and it's just a part of how it went today."
Leading scorer Brooklyn Meyer had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Mesa Byom didn’t score much but had 12 rebounds and Paige Meyer had 16 points and 8 rebounds in the game.
The Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt had hinted that she used the SDSU program as kind of an example of finding the players that fit and using that as a major factor in building your roster. She saw that process up close in her years coaching UMKC against the powerhouse Jackrabbits in the Summit Conference.
South Dakota State is now 30-3 and have won 20 games in-a-row and will play Connecticut on Monday in the Gampel Pavilion. Oklahoma State finishes a strong season with a 25-7 record. There are rumors that Jacie Hoyt is being chased by some programs and is looking for a new contract with Oklahoma State. Plenty to come now that it is the offseason.
