Carlson: OSU didn't need more magic. Jacie Hoyt & Cowgirls needed more tourney experience.

Naomie Alnatas drove toward the paint where she’s worked her magic so often this season.

The Oklahoma State point guard somehow managed to get around her defender and get a smidge of daylight as the final seconds ticked off the clock Saturday afternoon. She got a look at the basket. She sent a shot toward the rim.

But her flip hit the backboard, grazed the front rim and skipped out.

There would be no magic in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Miami 62, OSU 61.

“It’s hard to talk after a loss like that,” Cowgirl coach Jacie Hoyt said after pausing for nearly 10 seconds at the start of her press conference.

She paused again for another five seconds to collect her emotions.

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Oklahoma State's Naomie Alnatas (3) sits on the court after missing a last-second shot against Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Bloomington, Ind.
Oklahoma State's Naomie Alnatas (3) sits on the court after missing a last-second shot against Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Bloomington, Ind.

“I think the biggest thing outside of the obvious outcome of the game is just that I’m incredibly proud of what this team has accomplished this season,” she said. “God has just blessed me in ways that have surpassed my wildest dreams, and getting to be the head coach at Oklahoma State is truly the honor of my lifetime.

“I’m so proud of what we built.”

The Cowgirl turnaround under the first-year coach was dramatic. The Cowgirls went to the NCAA Tournament after preseason predictions had OSU finishing ninth in the Big 12, improving from nine wins a year ago to 21 wins this season.

But all that magic couldn’t save OSU on Saturday as it surrendered a 17-point lead and Miami tied the fifth-largest comeback in NCAA Tournament history.

The truth is, OSU’s wizardry this season came from its chemistry. Lots of transfers. A handful of returners. But they melded into something enchanting in large part because this was a team flush with veterans who knew what they wanted.

They wanted to win, and they rallied around that common goal.

But on Saturday, these veteran Cowgirls were felled by a lack of NCAA Tournament experience.

Yes, several of them had been to the Madness of March. Claire Chastain and Terryn Milton played for UT-Arlington in the tournament a year ago, but the Mavericks lost in the first round. Lior Garzon and Ana Grete Asi got some tournament experience playing for Villanova and Arizona, respectively, but they were reserves. They weren’t in the thick of the pressure.

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Miami's Destiny Harden celebrates with fans after beating OSU 62-61 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday in Bloomington, Ind.
Miami's Destiny Harden celebrates with fans after beating OSU 62-61 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday in Bloomington, Ind.

Ditto for Taylen Collins and Lexy Keys and Cassidy DeLapp, career Cowgirls who were there when OSU played in the 2021 tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 that year. But like Garzon and Asi, Collins, Keys and DeLapp were young and little used back then.

The result: when Miami turned up the pressure, OSU wilted.

The Cowgirls led by 17 points at halftime, and even though Hoyt tried to warn them about what she expected in the second half ― “I chewed our team out at halftime just kind of knowing the storm that was coming,” she said ― there was no one able to steady them when the Hurricanes started raging.

That halftime lead was completely erased in just over seven minutes.

The Cowgirls didn’t get stops on the defensive end. The Hurricanes scored points on 10 of their first 13 possessions of the second half. In the first 7:10 of the second half, they scored as many points (20) as they scored in the entire first half.

But the Cowgirls didn’t answer that run either. In the first nine minutes of the second half, they had twice as many turnovers (six) as points (three) against a Hurricane defense that was trapping and pressing as much as possible.

Was the defense or the offense the bigger issue for OSU?

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“I think they kind of went into each other,” Keys said. “We weren’t very good in transition in that quarter … and I think it led into offense because we just felt rushed, felt like the lead was dwindling and we had to score points.”

Hoyt said, “Didn’t really even feel like we had a chance to play defense because they were just running.”

The Cowgirls had managed situations like that this season and as recently as a week ago in the Big 12 Tournament when they stormed back for a win against West Virginia.

But the pressure hits differently when it’s the win-or-go-home scenario in the NCAA Tournament.

“I wish that we could have adjusted better,” Hoyt said. “We prepared for it, but until you go up against it, it’s different.”

Hoyt tried to help them.

“I was really trying to just bring a sense of calm and peace to the chaos,” she said.

But it’s worth remembering, this was her first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach, too. She’ll be better prepared for situations like this next time around.

So will her Cowgirls.

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And despite the massive lead OSU blew, the Cowgirls still had a chance to win the ballgame. A 3-pointer from Asi with 5.3 seconds left cut the Hurricanes’ lead to one, then a defensive stand forced a Miami 5-second call and a turnover gave OSU the ball back.

That set up Alnatas’ drive to the basket, which she thought was good when she let it go.

“Yeah, of course,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I did go to the basket to score it. It didn’t end up the way I wanted. That’s just basketball.”

Then, Alnatas turned philosophical.

“Sometimes you step in the ring, and it’s either you win or you get knocked out. … That’s just the risk of playing a sport is that you can just hurt.”

And hurt, the Cowgirls did, a spellbinding season ending just a couple of grains of pixie dust short.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State Cowgirls lacked NCAA Tournament experience vs. Miami