Oklahoma State women's basketball vs. Baylor: Three takeaways from Cowgirls' loss to Bears

STILLWATER — Jacie Hoyt grabbed the microphone after the game and tried to give some perspective.

The Oklahoma State women's basketball coach told the fans to remember that her team is still a work in progress and that they are going to keep working. But on Sunday afternoon, it just didn’t work out.

The Cowgirls started quickly, but 13th-ranked Baylor left Gallagher-Iba Arena with a 72-60 win. OSU has now lost three straight games.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

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OSU's quick start quickly faded

The Cowgirls (11-9 overall, 4-5 Big 12) led nearly the entire first quarter and entered the second quarter with a 19-12 lead. It was the kind of start OSU needed on the No. 13-ranked Bears. Sharpshooter Lior Garzon was 2 for 2 from behind the arc, and Hannah Gusters made each of her three attempts at the rim. Meanwhile, the Cowgirls forced seven turnovers and held Baylor to 39% shooting.

“I loved the start that we had to the game,” Hoyt said. “I thought we had really great preparation the last couple of days in practice.”

Even late in the second half, OSU was maintaining a two-possession advantage. With 3:13 left until halftime, the Cowgirls led 27-23, but they didn’t make a basket again until deep into the third quarter.

For the next 7:24, the Cowgirls went 0 for 8 from the field and made only 1 of 4 attempts from the free throw line. Baylor (16-3, 5-3) made a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left until halftime and took the lead for the first time since the first two minutes. The Bears’ lead grew to seven in the third quarter before a Stailee Heard jumper ended the drought.

Even then, OSU scored only nine points in the third.

“Honestly, we had two really bad quarters,” Hoyt said. “Especially, I felt the third quarter just felt like there was a lid on the rim, and some games are like that.”

In the second half, the Cowgirls posted 32 points and weren’t bad on offense, but they weren't consistent. Gusters would have a flash, then Quincy Noble or Anna Gret Asi. But the rhythm never fully came together.

And by the time the scoring drought ended, the Bears’ offense was in full swing. OSU is now 3-7 in games in which it scores fewer than 70 points this season.

“I thought today, it felt like we never had all five at the same time,” Hoyt said. “And that's a problem, and that's where we've all got to be better. It just kind of felt like the most we ever had outside of that first quarter was like two that were in a really good headspace, really good mindset, and then the other ones were struggling. And then maybe they would kind of figure it out, and then the other ones would drop off. That's where we just have to keep digging deep and figuring that part out.”

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Bears win battles on the boards and the bench

Baylor guard Aijha Blackwell didn’t have her best shooting night, but she gave the Cowgirls fits with rebounds.

She led the Bears with 19 boards, including seven on offense.

“They never put Gusters on Aijha, so I thought she always has had a physicality advantage, and I thought she took advantage of that,” Baylor coach Nicki Collen said.

The Cowgirls were outrebounded 45-29 and gave up 16 offensive boards.

“We’ve got to be better on the glass, and I know that,” Hoyt said. “I gotta make changes in practice to help our team with that. I know that our kids, like I said, will do whatever I ask them to do. I need to push them more, because that's unacceptable.”

The advantage in depth went the Bears’ way, too. OSU got four points out of its bench, while Baylor had 27.

The Bears got 15 points from Bella Fontleroy and nine from Yaya Felder off the bench, and the Cowgirls got two each from Rylee Langerman and Praise Egharevba.

“Let's keep perspective, everyone, Baylor's the 13th-ranked team in the country,” Hoyt said. “They're a damn good basketball team. And we can talk about our bench, (but) they have the deepest bench in the country. I mean, I think that's what makes them so good is they've got All-Americans and first-team all-conference players that transferred there that are coming off the bench for them.”

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Foul trouble keeps Cowgirls at bay in second half

Heard didn’t have a great start. When she was subbed out three-and-a-half minutes into the game, she already had a foul and four turnovers. She played six minutes in the first half and had no points.

In the second half, she was a spark. She only committed two turnovers the rest of the way and had six quick points late in the third, but fouls limited her in the fourth.

“I thought that was helpful, to be honest, with her having to sit on the bench in foul trouble,” Collen said.

In the span of a minute, Heard picked up two fouls and spent the final six minutes of the game with four fouls hanging over her. She didn’t score again after the fourth foul and fouled out with less than a minute remaining.

“Stuff’s gonna happen, you're gonna get in foul trouble,” Hoyt said. “She had some uncharacteristic things, but welcome to life. Welcome to basketball.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU women's basketball: Three takeaways from Cowgirls' loss to Baylor