Strong Second Quarter Propels Cowgirl Basketball to 97-58 Win Over East Texas A&M

Lions are only dangerous when they are allowed to hang around.

Oklahoma State beat East Texas A&M 97-58 on Wednesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowgirls improved to 2-0 this season.

The Cowgirls used a 23-6 second quarter to stifle the momentum the Lions had after only being down by four at the end of the first.

“We didn’t feel good after the first quarter,” coach Jaycie Hoyt said. “The second ended up being a really good quarter for us, holding them to six points, but overall it was a little bit of a wake-up call. I loved our response and our ability to do what we needed to do.”

The Lions found success early in the game defensively on the interior. Oklahoma State had five turnovers in the first quarter and three within the first three minutes.

“Our guards were not doing a very good job of keeping the ball in front,” Hoyt said. "I don’t think we were the team we wanted to be tonight for all 40 minutes.”

Stailee Heard was the answer inside for the Cowgirls. She finished with 15 points, nine coming from the free throw line, a place the Cowgirls were 34 times.

“Stailee was really aggressive tonight,” Hoyt said. “I think she makes everyone around her better and more confident when she is aggressive like that.”

Haleigh Timmer led all scorers with 22 points, including the first nine points of the game for the Cowgirls on a trio of made threes. Heard and Timmer also scored a combined 16 of the Cowgirls 22 first quarter points.

“I love being her teammate and being on the other side of her physicality,” Timmer said. “She draws a lot of defense and that opens a lot of things up for the rest of us.”

Three-point shooting has been a big part of the Cowgirl offense through the first two games. On Wednesday Oklahoma State was 12-30 from three, led by Timmer’s six makes on seven shots.

“We practice how we play and whoever is open gets the shot,” Timmer said. “Fortunately I had a lot of open looks tonight.”

The Cowgirls defense forced 17 turnovers, which helped to contain a Lions offense which scored 113 points in its season opener. Hoyt said this was due in part to Timmer being willing to take charge defensively.

“I think Haleigh was a great leader for us tonight on both ends of the floor,” Hoyt said. “She has more experience than anyone on the team and that’s exactly why we brought her here.”

With two games still to play in opening week, Hoyt likes the way her team has continued to develop and believe in the system.

“We have to be better defensively,” Hoyt said. “Offensively we just have to clean up some silly little turnovers, but there are certainly some bright spots.”