Abilene Christian sinks Cowgirls

Oklahoma State opened the WNIT with a 66-56 loss to Abilene Christian on Thursday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

STILLWATER — After a disappointing regular season, Oklahoma State’s weaknesses proved to be too much Thursday.

The Cowgirls’ season ended with a 66-56 loss to Abilene Christian in the first round of the WNIT. The defeat ended their 55-game nonconference winning streak in Gallagher-Iba Arena, and it was their first WNIT loss in Stillwater, where they had been 11-0.

With All-Big 12 center Kaylee Jensen in foul trouble early, OSU struggled from the perimeter and inside as the Wildcats, coached by former OSU coach Julie Goodenough, advanced to the second round.

“We got beat in every phase of the game,” OSU coach Jim Littell said.

With Jensen on the bench, ACU (23-8) went on an early 8-0 run and took a 16-15 lead into the second quarter.

“I was just a little disappointed in myself,” Jensen said. “I should be better than that by now.”

Jensen played only seven minutes in the first half. She finished with 26 points and seven rebounds, but her time off the court drained the Cowgirls.

“She can’t play that amount of minutes for us in the first half and us be successful,” Littell said.

After making its first four shots, OSU sank only one of its next 12. The Cowgirls kept it close, trailing 28-23 at halftime.

OSU did little to help itself fight back, though, struggling to make layups.

“It just breaks your back when you don’t finish those,” Littell said. “When you miss a layup, that’s like a turnover.”

ACU’s zone defense forced OSU to attempt outside shots. After making one of its eight 3-point attempts in the first half, OSU didn’t improve much in the second. Outside shots proved difficult for the Cowgirls throughout the year and will be an offseason emphasis, Littell said

“We’ve gotta get better in our perimeter game,” Littell said.

“We’ve got to get where we don’t allow people to double-, triple- and quadruple-team our post game.”

The game was the last in the careers of senior starters Diana Omozee and Katelyn Loecker. Jensen said although it’ll be difficult to replace the seniors, next season should feature improvement.

“They were such great leaders vocally and with the way they handled themselves on the court and off the court,” Jensen said. “I think we have great potential, but just like this past season, we had great potential, too. We just need to use it. We need to have hard work and effort with that potential so we can get further than what we just did.”