After a fast start at home, Oklahoma State is taking its first road trip of the season, and the opener comes Thursday at Tulsa.
The Cowgirls are 3-0 and will spend the next two games away from home, starting with a 5 p.m. matchup against the Golden Hurricane (1-1). After that, OSU turns around for a weekend game against South Dakota State, which figures to be one of the tougher non-conference tests on the schedule.
So far, Jacie Hoyt’s team has looked sharp on both ends. Oklahoma State has won all three games by controlling things from the jump, and the first two opponents were held under 40 points - the first time that has happened for the program since its inaugural 1973-74 season. Through three games, the Cowgirls are giving up just 44.3 points per contest.
The early results have pushed OSU up in the rankings as well. The Cowgirls are now No. 19 in the AP Top 25 and No. 20 in the USA Today Top 25 coaches poll after three straight lopsided wins over low- and mid-major opponents, including one team that reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
This one also brings a familiar in-state opponent. Oklahoma State owns the all-time series over Tulsa, 18-6, and has gone 7-2 in road games against the Golden Hurricane. Under Hoyt, the Cowgirls are 1-0 against Tulsa.
Tulsa, meanwhile, comes in at 1-1 after beating Rogers State 67-40 on Sunday. Angie Nelp has kept the Golden Hurricane moving in the right direction, and she is closing in on 100 wins at the school.
Last season, she guided Tulsa to 25 victories and a share of the 2023-24 American Conference regular-season title. The program has also reached the postseason three times under her watch, though not the NCAA Tournament.
Nelp is also working freshmen into the rotation early, but she still has a steady veteran piece in senior guard Mady Cartwright, who is set to make her 96th career start. Cartwright has scored 1,059 points for Tulsa, knocked down 150 3-pointers and made 253 free throws. The Golden Hurricane has been one of the stronger teams in the American Conference, winning at least 11 league games in each of the last three seasons.
The matchup to keep an eye on is in the backcourt. Oklahoma State transfer guard Liv McGill has wasted no time making her mark, averaging more than 16 points per game and ranking 10th in the country with 20 assists through three games.
She’s also been active defensively, piling up five steals. Center Audi Crooks is also averaging 16 points per game.
Tulsa has its own transfer making noise in Alexa Kinas, who came over from Loyola Chicago before the season. In just two games, she leads the Golden Hurricane in scoring at 12.5 points per game, rebounding at 7.5 and steals at 2.5 while logging 30 minutes per game. The Kaukauna, Wis., native is the kind of player Tulsa can build around in the coming seasons.
That puts the spotlight on McGill, who has already become Oklahoma State’s top guard and its best on-ball defender. At 5-9, she matches up well with Kinas, who is 5-8, and that looks like the defensive assignment Hoyt will lean on. Stailee Heard and Yuting Deng could also help, but McGill figures to spend most of the night on Kinas.
In Other News...
Oklahoma State Has Real Reason To Watch Eric Morris And Texas Tech
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The Texas Tech side of the equation matters because Joey McGuire has built real momentum in Lubbock, including guiding the Red Raiders to their first College Football Playoff appearance last season. With Texas Tech leadership publicly backing McGuire and signaling stability, Oklahoma State has a reason to keep an eye on how that situation develops, even if Morris keeps insisting his attention is elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Could Be Running Out Of Proven QB Options
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For programs trying to navigate the portal, the timing matters. The pool of available passers is shrinking as more quarterbacks choose to stay put, and the demand for anyone with real starting experience remains high. For the Cowboys, that kind of squeeze only raises the stakes around every decision at the position, especially with the market moving quickly and the best names getting locked in before other schools can make a push. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Has A Real Chance To Wreck Texas Techs Playoff Push
Texas Tech comes into Saturday night in a spot it has spent most of the season chasing, sitting at 8-1 and just outside the College Football Playoff picture. But the Red Raiders are walking into a dangerous matchup at Oklahoma State, where ESPN analyst Greg McElroy pointed to the Cowboys offensive upside as the kind of thing that can make life uncomfortable for a team trying to protect a postseason push.
A big part of that threat starts with quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who has been piling up big passing days and giving Oklahoma State a real chance to stress a Texas Tech defense that has not always looked steady. With kickoff set for 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, this has the feel of a game where the Cowboys can do more than just play spoiler, and Texas Tech will have to prove its playoff case on the road against a team that can score in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]