The Oklahoma State Cowgirls returned home to Stillwater after losing for the first time this season to St. John’s and were determined to get a win.
They did just that in Monday night’s game against the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders.
In a game that ended with a final score of 98-45, the Cowgirls dismantled the Islanders by relentlessly forcing turnovers throughout the game.
OSU had a rough start on offense; shortly after opening the game’s scoring with a Haleigh Timmer 3-pointer, it could not get the ball in the hoop, which A&M Corpus Christi capitalized on by scoring seven straight points before Coach Jacie Hoyt called a timeout with six minutes remaining in the first quarter.
“We said coming off the loss, it’s like we’re not going to just get better at the things we need to get better at, because we say we want to,” Hoyt said. “We’re going to have opportunities to respond and actually do it and execute it and that was that. Here we go again, so now how are we going to respond in this moment?”
Lena Girardi hit a 3-point shot 10 seconds out of the timeout, which was the start of a 17-to-0 run to end the quarter. As the Cowgirls’ lead increased, the Islanders’ turnover numbers followed, with the Islanders turning the ball over six times in their six-minute scoring drought to end the quarter.
The Cowgirls’ scoring run extended to the next quarter, and when it was done, the total was 25 straight points for OSU.
The defense did not let up in the second half, with 14 turnovers in the third quarter alone. The Cowgirls were using effective double teams and diving for loose balls to create absolute chaos for the Islanders’ offense.
In the fourth, the Cowgirls forced another four turnovers in a game that was all but over. They finished the night with 98 points and held Texas A&M Corpus Christi to 45 with 34 total turnovers for the Islanders in a much-needed win for OSU.