Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Open Season With 77-47 Rout Of UC Riverside
November 11, 2006 | Cowgirl Basketball
The win snapped a 17-game losing streak for OSU, which never trailed against a Highlanders' squad that returned all five starters from last season's NCAA Tournament team and is the preseason favorite to win the Big West Conference.
“That was a good start for us, and I thought that after the last two days of practice we would really play well tonight,” OSU head coach Kurt Budke said. “We feel like if we give them a good game plan and we execute it for a couple of days in practice, we can come out and play with a lot of people. That showed tonight.
“I think we showed people that things are changing at Oklahoma State. We're not perfect and we've got a long way to go, but it's a start.”
Cordero, a 6-foot-3 center who also recorded a double-double in OSU's final preseason exhibition game, led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
Joining Cordero as double-figure scorers for the Cowgirls were senior forward Rashidat Sadiq, who scored 12 of her 17 points in the opening half and also had seven rebounds in the contest, and junior forward Dominique Chism, who poured in 11 points.
The Cowgirls connected on 47 percent of their shots from the field (26-of-55) and outrebounded UC-Riverside by a 45-30 margin.
Roney Friend and Kemie Nkele paced the UC-Riverside scoring attack with 14 points apiece, but the Highlanders shot just 34 percent (20-of-59) from the field and turned the ball over 22 times.
OSU jumped out to a 10-2 lead on a layup by Cordero at the 15:35 mark, and the Cowgirls remained in control to take a 32-22 advantage into the halftime locker room.
Budke's squad continued to build on its lead in the second half, with a three pointer by Sadiq giving the Cowgirls a 17-point cushion at the 11:01 mark. The visitors would not get closer than 13 the rest of the way as OSU cruised to the win.
OSU, which set an OSU women's basketball single-game attendance record with the 7,160 fans, returns to action Saturday, Nov. 18 when it hosts Northwestern State in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
