STILLWATER — Coming off her team’s first loss of the season, Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Jacie Hoyt reminded the Cowgirls for days about the importance of their response.
After OSU’s 98-45 domination of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena, Hoyt was beyond pleased.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFour minutes into the game, however, Hoyt, in her words, “was seeing red.”
The Cowgirls (6-1) did little right in the first four minutes, falling behind 7-3, leading Hoyt to call an early timeout.
“We were a bunch of softies at St. John’s,” Hoyt said, referencing last week’s 74-67 loss in New York. “We were soft. There’s no other way to say it. The only other way to say it is we were a bunch of poodles and they were pitbulls. And that’s what we’ve been talking about all week long.
“That timeout was probably a lot of, ‘OK, really? Are we gonna keep being poodles? Because we gotta be pitbulls here.’ So I thought our response was good, but I’m definitely sick of having to talk about poodles.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHoyt called the timeout after the Islanders scored with 6:04 left in the first quarter.
From there, OSU scored the next 25 points, a stretch that reached the 7:07 mark of the second quarter.
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Haleigh Timmer, Lena Girardi pace Cowgirls
One of Hoyt’s key concerns at St. John’s was the limited offensive production from a team that had been averaging over 100 points a game.
The offense came back with authority Monday, led by Haleigh Timmer’s 25 points. Freshman Lena Girardi added 17 points, going 7 of 11 from the floor.
Micah Gray had 14 points. Jadyn Wooten added 13 with eight assists and six rebounds. And Achol Akot batted 11 points with five boards.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Cowgirls were 13 of 32 from 3-point range with Timmer at the forefront at 5 of 9.
Timmer was held scoreless in the St. John’s loss, so Hoyt was thrilled to see the sharpshooter attacking again.
“Loved her response,” Hoyt said. “It’s not just about her scoring it. She’s an elite shooter, so I know the offensive game the last time out was not who she is at all.
“For her to keep shooting at the clip she did says a lot about her and our team’s belief in her that we all want her to shoot.”
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Oklahoma State's Lena Girardi (2) watches her 3-point basket over Langston's DaNae Crosby during the college basketball game between the Oklahoma State Cowgirls and the Langston Lions at Gallagher-Iba Arena, Okla., Thursday Nov., 6, 2025.Stailee Heard joins 1,000-point club
Early in that 25-0 Cowgirl run, OSU guard Stailee Heard made a 3-pointer that moved her past the 1,000-point mark just seven games into her junior season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHeard finished with just seven points, but had six of OSU’s 19 steals.
“She’s the type of player that will do whatever it takes to win,” Hoyt said. “Stailee couldn’t care less about scoring. She does, because that’s what it takes to help us win. But I was more impressed with her six steals. I think that’s where she hangs her hat as well.”
Defense picks up intensity
Heard’s six steals were part of the 35 turnovers OSU forced, which resulted in 46 points.
The Islanders had the scoreless stretch of nearly nine minutes bridging the first and second quarters, then another scoreless span of more than seven minutes to start the third quarter.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I’m just thinking about (Hoyt) throwing out a baseball term in that huddle,” Girardi said. “She wanted us to talk about what a shutout was. So I was really impressed with her baseball skills. But honestly, I was pissed that they even got a point. We wanted to keep them to zero.
“We’re never taking our foot off the gas. We’re trying to run the ball down people’s throat for 40 minutes and make their lives miserable. We’re never taking our foot off the gas, ever.”
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State women's basketball has assertive response to first loss
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