Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Basketball Upsets Baylor, 72-68
March 07, 2008 | Cowgirl Basketball
WACO, Texas (AP) -Oklahoma State made a lot of people wearing purple happy Thursday night.
Andrea Riley scored 27 points and Shaunte Smith added 17, as No. 20 Oklahoma State beat No. 8 Baylor 72-68 and dashed the Bears' chance of sharing the Big 12 regular season championship.
Angela Tisdale had 18 points for Baylor (24-5, 12-4), which could have tied Kansas State for the regular season conference title. Jessica Morrow scored 11 and Danielle Wilson had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
``We knew it was going to be hard to go in there,'' Riley said. ``They hadn't lost a game at home. We thought maybe we could go in there and play them tough and come out with a victory. They're a tough team, and for us to give them their first loss (at home) was very exciting.''
Maria Cordero added nine points for the Cowgirls (23-6, 11-5), seven of them coming in the final four minutes.
``You want to play your best basketball at this time of year, and I think we were there tonight,'' Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke said.
Oklahoma State took a 42-29 lead with 4:44 left in the first half on consecutive baskets - a jumper and a 3-pointer - by Riley, who scored 19 in the half. But the Bears went into halftime on a 7-2 spurt to close within 43-36.
After two quick baskets to open the second half put the Cowgirls up by 11, Baylor used a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 53-52 with 13:04 remaining. The Bears were trailing by five when Melissa Jones hit a layup on an inbound play.
Baylor failed to capitalize on that momentum, however, as Oklahoma State scored six consecutive points to go up 59-52 with 10:40 to play. The Bears answered with three baskets of their own, cutting the lead to 59-58 at the 9:02 mark.
After two Cowgirl free throws, Baylor tied the game on Tisdale's three-point play with 6:40 to play. Smith hit two more free throws to put Oklahoma State up 63-61 and Baylor answered with a 3-pointer from Rachel Allison with 5:16 remaining.
Baylor then went scoreless for the next 3:36, allowing Oklahoma State to edge ahead.
Cordero, who went scoreless in the first half, hit a 3 with 4:00 left and a layup 44 seconds later to put OSU back up 68-66. Rachel Allison's jumper off the glass with 1:40 to play pulled Baylor within two, but Cordero's layup put it out of reach with 37.8 seconds left.
``We said we're going to buy (Cordero) some green contacts,'' Budke said. ``Her best games come against Baylor. I don't know why, but Maria does play well against Baylor and she came through at a very big time tonight.''
With just over 16 seconds left, Tisdale missed a 3-pointer and Allison missed a layup after a rebound.
