Basketball journalist Brayden McCoy discusses the Golden Hurricane’s 78-48 loss to the Cowgirls despite a strong first half.
The Golden Hurricane had its momentum stolen Wednesday night by the Oklahoma State University Cowgirls with a final score of 78-48. Tulsa started strong in the first half, pushing forward with fierce energy that produced to a lead up to 11 points.
The game started quickly, with Tulsa notching a five-point lead before the Cowgirls tied it up. This pattern continued for the rest of the first quarter, with TU pulling ahead only to have OSU drag them down to tie up the score. The Cowgirls briefly took the lead with 0:57 in the first quarter, before Tulsa tied it up at the 0:38 mark.
The second quarter saw TU go on a fierce push that lead to a 28-12 lead by the 5:12 mark. OSU rose to this challenge and cut the Golden Hurricane’s lead down to five points with 2:02 left in the quarter. With less than a minute on the clock, Tulsa’s Morgan Brady and Kendrian Elliot blitzed in three-pointers to bring Tulsa’s lead to 11 points until OSU scored a buzzer beating three-pointer to bring the second quarter to a close at 39-31.
The first half saw TU knock down seven out of nine treys and beat OSU in rebounds 26-24. By halftime the lead Tulsa Women held over OSU was eight points and was the result of fierce shots and swift plays, but didn’t hold.
With the start of the second half, Tulsa’s lead rapidly dissipated, and OSU became noticeably more physical during the second half. Tulsa wasn’t responding in turn which led to the Cowgirls dominating the pace of the game, every point the Golden hurricane scored was returned by OSU in a crushing back and forth.
The Cowgirls were in the zone during this time, scoring the first 11 points of the third period and ending it with a 12-point lead. Through this they had their first lead since late in the first period when they were up 14-12. Addison Richard made a timely three-pointer in an attempt to fight back and end the drought of points Tulsa was suffering.
However, OSU didn’t let up and continued attacking, scoring 26 points in the third period while the Golden Hurricane only managed six. The Golden Hurricane was losing momentum rapidly, and only managed to score three points in the final period, while the Cowgirls fiercely took 21 points. The final 30 minutes demonstrate the degree to which the Golden Hurricane’s strength was stripped away, with OSU outscoring the Hurricane 47-9.
Kendrian Elliot and Alexis Gaulden led the Hurricane, with 16 and 11 points respectively. Vivian Gray led the game for OSU by scoring 24 points alongside Ja’Mee Asberry who had 21.
