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November 19, 2009

Cowgirls ride on

OSU sparks late rally to advance

Scott Nulph — Sports Editor

With its star player struggling and New Mexico surging before almost 7,000 fans in The Pit, Oklahoma State looked to have reached the end of the line in their Preseason WNIT run.

But Andrea Riley showed the Lobos fans why she’s an All-American candidate, and the Cowgirls again played wonderful defense down the stretch to beat New Mexico 70-56 on Wednesday.

The Cowgirls (3-0) advance to the WNIT championship game on Sunday to take on the winner of the West Virginia-Ohio State game. That game will be played tonight in Columbus, Ohio.

“The only way to come in here and win is with great defense, and we did a good job of keeping our hands off them,” OSU coach Kurt Budke said. “Everybody had their moments tonight, and they are all taking their turn. This is a tough place to play and this is an exciting win for us.”

Riley finished with a game-high 22 points, 14 coming in the final 7:50 of the game as the Cowgirls closed on a 23-6 run.

The senior was just 6 of 22 from the field but a perfect 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.

Senior Tegan Cunningham was a perfect 4-for-4 on 3-pointers and added 20 points and eight rebounds.

“I was just feeling it,” Cunningham said. “I have been working on my 3-point shot and somebody needed to step up for us. Luck was on my side tonight.

“It is a hard gym to play in with all of those fans behind them. It is called The Pit for a reason.”

Four other Cowgirls scored at least six points. Lakyn Garrison scored eight and Megan Byford seven off the bench.

OSU trailed 33-25 with six minutes to go in the first half but used a 9-0 run to go to the break up 34-33.

A 13-4 New Mexico run, capped by a steal and layup by Amanda Best, gave the Lobos (2-1) a 50-47 lead with 7:50 to go.

That’s when the Cowgirls clamped down on defense and Riley heated up on offense. Two quick steals and layups by Riley started the run. Four Riley points in the middle extended OSU’s lead. She then made six straight free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

OSU held New Mexico to just 25 percent shooting in the second half (9 of 36) after the Lobos made 13 of 26 shots (50 percent) over the first 20 minutes.

The Cowgirls also dominated the boards, holding a 45-34 advantage. Freshman Lindsey Keller led the way with nine rebounds while junior Precious Robinson had eight.

Best led New Mexico with 15 points. All-Mountain West Conference guard Amy Beggin was just 3 of 15 from the field to score 10 points.

“They were more determined on the boards than us, and we didn’t do a great job of blocking out,” New Mexico coach Don Flanagan said. “We just have to compete against good teams and not just bad teams. I felt like that was a good team. They (OSU) have a lot of depth and a lot of talent.”

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