Resurgent Cowgirls relying on their veteran experience
STILLWATER — Last summer, as she prepared for her junior season with the Oklahoma State women's basketball team, Lexy Keys began learning about all her new teammates who were joining the Cowgirls via the transfer portal after Jacie Hoyt was named the new coach.
Keys and three other OSU players from last year's roster stuck around, but Hoyt had to fill the rest with transfers — eight in all, from six different universities.
And Keys saw a common trait in many of her new teammates. Experience.
It almost seems oxymoronic to talk about the high experience level of a roster that is nearly all new, but with her careful work recruiting from the transfer portal, Hoyt built a veteran team, and that's one of the biggest reasons why the Cowgirls have far exceeded expectations this year.
Initially picked to finish ninth in the Big 12, OSU and Iowa State are tied for third in the standings with four regular-season games to go. And that tie will be broken on Wednesday night, when the Cowgirls (19-7) host the 20thranked Cyclones (17-7) at 6:30 p.m. at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Deadlocked at 9-5 in conference play with a two-game gap above fifth place, OSU and ISU are jockeying for seeding in the Big 12 Tournament and the Cowgirls are also working to improve their status as an NCAA Tournament team.
ESPN's Charlie Creme has Iowa State as a No. 5 seed, but the Cowgirls as a No. 9 in his latest bracketology, released Tuesday.
Still, the Cowgirls wouldn't be here without their collective experience, even if it didn't come in the Big 12.
Terryn Milton and Claire Chastain were multi-year starters at Texas-Arlington, have both scored more than 1,000 points in their careers and played in an NCAA Tournament. Naomie Alnatas was with Hoyt at Missouri-Kansas City for a conference championship and two 20-win seasons.
Lior Garzon was second-team AllBig East last year. Keys, Taylen Collins and Kassidy De Lapp were key players for the Cowgirls under previous coach Jim Littell.
All that experience, even in different systems under different coaches, built a more mature view of the game of basketball, and with that, the players blended quickly once they got on the court together.
“T. (Milton) and Claire, they went to the dance last year and played Iowa State really well last year,” Keys said. “Their experience and leadership is second to none.
“We're all unique in so many different ways. We don't bring the same thing to the table at all, and I think that's what was so clear to see. We're all so different but mesh so well at the same time.”
Milton pointed to another benefit of the team's experience level that was vital as they got to know each other last summer.
“We've played with different teammates, so we were able to gel really well together,” the Owasso native said. “And the end-of-game experience is big. We don't get too sped up. We calm ourselves down if the other team goes on a run. So I think experience has been a big part of our success this year.”
The roster has five super-senior players, four of whom came in as transfers, so Hoyt knew she had to get those players fully bought into building something bigger than just a single season.
And she did it. They've invested in being part of something that will last long after their careers end.
“That's the risk you take when you get a fifth-year, right?” Hoyt said. “Are they gonna be completely bought in or are they just gonna make this about them?
“In the recruiting process I could feel from them, ‘You know what, Coach, this is my last year. I wanna make it really special. I wanna go out on top. I wanna play in an NCAA Tournament.'
“I've never coached a group with as much urgency as what these fifthyears are playing with right now.”
Alnatas came to America from Cayenne, French Guiana, via France, and spent time at Iowa Western Community College before joining up with Hoyt at UMKC, where she had a stellar career.
She has professional basketball dreams, but her last ride in Stillwater is about more than what happens on the hardwood.
“I'm really honored to be part of a team where I'm coming with Coach and she tells you she wants to build a new culture,” Alnatas said. “That's really amazing, being able to say that later, when you see this program going back to where it deserves to be — being able to say that I was part of the team that started that, it feels good.