No. 24 Oklahoma State women beat Utah 68-64; Coach Jacie Hoyt addresses media

The 24th ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls got back in the win column Tuesday night after defeating Utah, 68-64.

Micah Gray led the Cowgirls in scoring with 18 points, 12 of those coming from beyond the arc.

Praise Egharevba came off the bench and recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The win moves OSU to sole possession of fourth place in the Big 12 as of February 19th, with just three games remaining on the schedule.

Oklahoma State head coach Jacie Hoyt met with local Utah media after the game on the road in postgame.

Opening statement:

"Well just really high-level basketball being played tonight. I think I have so much respect for Utah. How they play the game. I think they play the game the right way. I think that Nickens is undoubtedly one of the best players in the country. They just are so good at what they do. And I'm so proud of our team for gutting it out and getting a win on their home court. Because they're so good. You know, coming off a loss like we were, that's tough. That's tough to bounce back and respond, especially on the road against such a great team. I'm just incredibly proud. I thought our kids were tough. They were gritty. We had a lot of adversity with foul trouble and stuff like that. And our kids just kept clawing and finding a way. Micah Gray was really special and stepped up and made some big-time shots for us that I think gave her teammates a lot of confidence. Praise Egharevba. I mean she obviously made a huge play down the stretch with the and one put back and then the free throw. But it was really the whole game. She was tremendous for us with ten and in foul trouble early. I'm just very proud. I'm very, very proud tonight."

Coach, you're able to double team them up on offensive rebounds. Like you mentioned, there was a couple big ones there at the end of the game. Just how big of an impact was that for you and for your team to be able to come back?

"Yeah, I mean it made a huge difference. And they're a team that's really good defensively too. Nothing is easy this time of year, right? Everyone knows everyone's plays. And I thought our team was really great when they took away option one, option two. Playing through broken plays. But then, those rebounds were huge for us to give us second chance opportunities. And, you know, I just really challenged our team to be the aggressor tonight. We absolutely were not in our last game, and I felt like that was going to make the difference. Not even because I thought that we could do that against Utah, but it was more about getting back to us and being the aggressor. So, I thought that was a reflection of our aggressive mentality."

Utah gets to a nine-point lead in that third quarter, twice. What was kind of the message to your team or what did you have to say to kind of help get you back into that game?

"Yeah, I mean just don't break, just keep staying in the fight. Keep punching. I thought there was a point in time where our kid's kind of started to feel sorry for themselves with foul trouble and I just had to tell them, you're not the victim. You just have to fight harder, and you have to adjust. I thought that they initially took them a little time to do that, but then they figured it out. And it was great to see because we're still growing up. We're still maturing and learning, and the truth is, this team hasn't been in those situations, not together anyway. So, really proud. I think we grew up a lot with that tonight."

As a coach how tough is it to get in a rhythm of consistency when there's 41 combined fouls between these two teams?

"I mean it was on both sides. It's just how the game was going. I thought that we could adjust quicker than what we did. I thought we talked about that at halftime then we came out and it's kind of the same thing. It's for two teams who want to play so much in transition. I think we both were probably pretty frustrated with that. But that's how it goes, and you have to adjust. We had some officials tonight that we haven't had this season and that happens. I'm sure when Utah travels, to the Midwest or whatever, they kind of feel the same thing in terms of the game being called a little different. Ultimately, that's on all of us to adjust."

Coach, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on just the environment here in Salt Lake tonight?

"Amazing, amazing. They do a great job here. I mean, it was a tough game. They did their part. The fans, they impacted the game, you could feel them. I love where women's basketball is right now. Just for recruiting and just across the country, but especially in the Big 12. This is such a tough conference to be in because of those environments when you go on the road. This was definitely one of the best environments that we've played in, one of the toughest environments that we've played in and just got to tip my hat to them because that was a tough environment to play in."

Utah was 5-23 from the three-point line tonight. What was your emphasis with your team because Utah is so efficient on that three-point line?

"We knew we had to defend the three. That was a huge emphasis. But more importantly, we didn't want them to get the threes. Our kids were phenomenal at getting over ball screens and handoffs and just not letting anything come easy for them. So, I thought our kids were great with that. They were still going to get some off, but all in all, we did what we needed to do there."

The win over the Utes improved the Cowgirls to 21-5 overall this season and 11-4 in conference play.

OSU returns to action on Saturday in Stillwater to host Colorado at 2:00 p.m.