STILLWATER - The Oklahoma State Cowgirls are on a 5-game winning streak after dismantling Baylor. A total team buy-in is what Oklahoma State has had all season.

The Cowgirls had no Preseason Big 12 Conference awards and were picked to finish 11th in the conference, but that has not affected the team.

“Our kids have been unbelievably bought in all season.” Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt said. “I can’t say enough about them; it’s one word for it, it’s family right now.”

That total team buy-in was shown in Waco on Wednesday, as OSU (12-1 2-0 Big 12) dominated Baylor in the second half en route to an 84-61 victory.

OSU started the game off slow, as the Cowgirls missed five of their first six shot attempts — but it didn’t take long for the Cowgirls to settle in.

The Cowgirls showed their firepower to close the first quarter, ending on a 15-3 run, but that was quickly erased when Baylor’s Yaya Felder gave the Bears some energy in the second quarter, and the Bears went on a big run of their own.

The Cowgirls entered the locker room only up by two, but that was the end of the Bears’ momentum.

OSU came out of the locker room like it had shot out of a cannon. To open up the second half, the Cowgirls found success partially down low, as they went on a 12-2 run to start the half — fifthyear center Tenin Magassa was key.

Magassa was dominant on both ends in the second half, scoring 14 points with five blocked shots.

“She played long.” Baylor Forward Madison Bartley said of Magassa, “It was really hard to get that ball up; she was really good at blocking.”

The Cowgirls found success by being physical, especially in the second half, and used that to their advantage. After shooting 13 three-point attempts in the first half, the Cowgirls cut that number to six in the second half.

OSU found the free throw line 18 times in the second half, and when it didn’t get fouled, it was getting its shots to fall. The Cowgirls shot an efficient 77% from the field in the second half and took away any chance Baylor had at getting transition points.

“When you don’t get stops, you don’t get transition” Baylor head coach Nicki Collen said. “It affected us in a lot of ways.”

Cowgirl Points

Anna Gret Asi and Micah Gray tallied five points apiece in the first period as the Cowgirls took a 23-15 lead after one.

Stailee Heard accounted for eight of Oklahoma State’s 13 points in the second quarter as the Cowgirls held on to a 36-34 lead at the break.

OSU had nine different Cowgirls score in the first half on 42% shooting. Heard led the way with her eight second-quarter points.

Out of the half, Tenin Magassa scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting, and Macey Huard tallied eight points, adding two three-pointers to take a 63-47 lead into the final period.

Magassa, Heard, Asi, Smith, and Huard totaled double digits for the Cowgirls in its largest margin of victory over Baylor since 2000.

The Cowgirls are back in action at Gallagher-Iba Arena against Kansas on January 4 at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

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