Taylen Collins, Lexy Keys among departures from Oklahoma State women’s basketball

Collins, Keys among departures from OSU women’s basketball

A pair of starters and in-state players highlighted the early transfer portal departures for the Oklahoma State women’s basketball team.

Coming off a 21-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance, coach Jacie Hoyt’s program has lost four players to the portal so far, led by Taylen Collins and Lexy Keys.

Backups Macie James and Makyra Tramble also have entered the portal, according to multiple reports.

Collins, a 6-foot-1 forward from Muldrow, is the daughter of former OSU men’s basketball player Terry Collins. In her junior season, Collins averaged 9.5 points and 9.1 rebounds, starting all 33 games and playing a key role as a versatile defender for the Cowgirls.

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

Keys, a 5-foot-7 guard from Tahlequah, started all but one game, which she missed because of injury. She finished her junior season with 9.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, shooting 31.5% from 3-point range.

Tramble is a native of Shawnee and transferred to OSU last year after being named the NCAA Division II national player of the year at Southwestern Oklahoma State the previous season. As a senior, she averaged 3.7 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11.6 minutes over 10 games before suffering a season-ending injury. She has one year of eligibility remaining.

James, a Fresno, California, native, played limited minutes in 10 games as a sophomore.

James, Collins and Keys were the last remaining players recruited by Jim Littell, who was replaced by Hoyt in March 2022.

With five players having exhausted their eligibility, the Cowgirls now have nine total departures from the roster. Three high school players, including Sapulpa guard Stailee Heard, are bound for Stillwater in the 2023 recruiting class.

More: Oklahoma State basketball star Avery Anderson III enters portal as graduate transfer

OU men's gymnastics earn No. 2 seed at NCAA championships

The second-ranked Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team will be the No. 2 national seed at the NCAA Championships, which will be held April 14-15 at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa.

The Sooners will face off against No. 3 Michigan, host and No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 10 California and No. 11 Springfield in the second qualifying session at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, April 14.

The first qualifying session, to be held at noon on April 14, will consist of No. 1 Stanford, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 8 Air Force, No. 9 Navy and No. 12 Army.

The top three teams and the top three all-around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top three individuals on each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from each qualifying session to the finals. The NCAA Championship finals, set for 5 p.m. CT on April 15 will determine team, all-around and individual event champions.

Oklahoma faced four of its five qualifying session opponents during the regular season. The Sooners bested Michigan 411.850 to 398.900 at the Rocky Mountain Open on Jan. 21 and 414.550 to 410.400 in a dual meet in Norman on March 4. OU topped Cal 410.050 to 381.450 in Berkeley, Calif., on March 18 and 409.500 to 388.600 at the MPSF Championships last weekend. The Crimson and Cream won a tri-meet over both Penn State (410.000 to 404.450) and Ohio State (410.000 to 397.600) in Columbus, Ohio, on March 11.

The Sooners have won 12 NCAA men’s gymnastics championships, including nine under head coach Mark Williams, and have finished first or second in 19 of the last 21 NCAA team championships held. OU’s most recent national championship was in 2018, the final in a run of four straight national titles. Oklahoma and Penn State are tied for the most men’s gymnastics national championships nationally.

More: OU women's gymnastics: Sooners battle back from falls to win NCAA Regional

Extra points

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Grant McCasland said it has a been a remarkable journey to becoming head coach at Texas Tech from his days working as the program's director of basketball operations while getting his master's degree at the school. McCasland was introduced as the new coach on the Lubbock campus on Monday, three days after being named to the position. He got a six-year contract worth $18.15 million that goes through the 2028-2029 season. It was while working for Texas Tech coach James Dickey from 1999-2001 that he also met his wife, who was a soccer player at the school.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The only Canadian college with NCAA membership is shutting down its football program. Simon Fraser President Joy Johnson announced the decision in a letter, saying uncertainties about the future for the football program led to the decision to shut it down. Simon Fraser became the only Canadian school to hold NCAA membership when it was approved to begin competing at the Division II level starting in 2010. But several Division II schools on the West Coast have dropped football in recent years. Simon Fraser was an affiliate member of the Lone Star Conference last season but that was due to end for Simon Fraser in 2024.

—Staff and wire reports

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State women’s basketball loses Taylen Collins, Lexy Keys