Cowgirls, Sooners both dancing
Oklahoma State will meet Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma was one of the last four teams in and will get a rematch with DePaul.
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State women’s basketball team is headed back to a familiar place for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cowgirls received a No. 9 seed and will face No. 8-seed Syracuse on the campus of Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi.
OSU’s opener will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, televised on ESPN2.
Mississippi State is the No. 1 seed in the Kansas City regional, and would be the likely secondround opponent should the Cowgirls win their opener.
OSU lost 79-76 at Mississippi State on Dec. 3, which was the closest anyone had played the defending champion Bulldogs all season until they lost to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament last week.
“This is what you play for,” said OSU coach Jim Littell, who has now taken the Cowgirls to five NCAA Tournaments in the last six years. “This is what the kids play for in the summer and the offseason, and I'm just thrilled to be back in the NCAA Tournament. I'm really happy for our three seniors who have invested so much in this program.”
Littell says freshman guard Braxtin Miller, who injured her knee in the Big 12 Tournament loss to West Virginia, will be ready to play on Saturday.
The Cowgirls’ three senior starters — Kaylee Jensen, Mandy Coleman and Loryn Goodwin — will get one last shot at the Big Dance.
It’s particularly exciting for Goodwin, the graduate transfer and sixthyear senior who is with her fourth college program, but will play in her first NCAA Tournament.
“For every team I played for, the goal was to get to the NCAA Tournament,” she said. “But I think to finally do that my senior year makes it even more sweet. It's really a priceless moment to see your name pop up on ESPN and see your team is going to make the NCAA Tournament.”
Jensen and Coleman will each be making their third NCAA appearances as Cowgirls.
“The first two years were really exciting, but being a senior and going to the tournament is something huge,” Jensen said. “That's something you want to leave behind as a senior, so I'm glad I could do that.”
The Cowgirls are 10-14 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, last winning in 2014. That year, the Cowgirls won twice before losing to Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
Syracuse (22-8) is making its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and its second straight as a No. 8 seed. Last year, the Orange defeated Iowa State before losing to Connecticut.
Syracuse was 10-6 in ACC play, getting upset by Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament.
After getting knocked out in its first game at the Big 12 Tournament, OSU is hungry for a postseason victory.
“They want to leave with a postseason win, and this is very important to them,” Littell said. “We play a great Syracuse team that's very athletic and plays in a great conference, so we've got a big challenge ahead of us but we're excited to be in the field.”