Cowgirls Win WNIT Opener

Originally Published: Nov 14, 2009 1:22 AM CDT

Curt Hill
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

STILLWATER, Oklahoma -- The Oklahoma State women's basketball team picked up a 67-58 win over Arkansas-Little Rock in the first round of the preseason WNIT on Friday night.

Senior Andrea Riley led all players with 27 points and Tegan Cunningham finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Precious Robinson also reached double digits in the scoring column with 10.

"That was a great win tonight. That is a quality team that is going to win 25-plus games again like they do every year," OSU head coach Kurt Budke said. "They've got some great players and great coaches. Joe Foley is one of the best coaches in the country at any level."

The Trojans jumped out on top early and led 25-14 with less than five minutes remaining. The Cowgirls finished the half on a 14-3 run, though, and went into the half tied at 28 with UALR.

Despite losing their lead, the Trojans jumped back out on top at the start the second half and led for much of the second 20 minutes. But the Cowgirls would fight back. After UALR went up 50-43 with just under seven minutes remaining, Oklahoma State tied the score with a 7-0 run.

With the score tied at 52, Precious Robinson nailed a putback and gave OSU the lead for good with three minutes remaining.

"It's just basically how mentally tough we were tonight," Riley said. "I think we really locked in and listened to each other and played the game plan like we were supposed to. When you're going through things in shoot around, it's all about the last four minutes."

The Cowgirls return to the court on Sunday when they host Georgia Tech in WNIT second round action.