BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2024

Jacie Hoyt

Quincy Noble

Rylee Langerman

T-Mobile Center

Oklahoma State Cowgirls

Postgame Press Conference

TCU - 68, Oklahoma State - 66.

THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Oklahoma State Head Coach Jacie Hoyt and student-athletes, Quincy Noble and Rylee Langerman. Coach?

JACIE HOYT: Well, today was everything that games are supposed to be in March. You know, just a lot of lead changes and unfortunately a game that we came up just a little bit short in. I just told our team, we have nothing to hang our heads about at all.

I've never been more proud after a season of a group of kids that stuck together and battled, regardless of their circumstances. So credit to TCU. They made really big free throws down the stretch and unfortunately we were not able to get the play off that we wanted at the end of clock.

But I'm just super proud of our kids and loved the fight that they had from start to finish.

Q. Coach, you talked about it, but could you explain what went into that last play? Did you know Anna Gret was going to have the ball in her hands?

JACIE HOYT: I think everybody in the gym knew where the ball was going. Quincy was unreal tonight. She was special. There was nothing more she could have given us. I wish we could have got the ball in her hands but we didn't. So they did a good job of taking our Option 1 away, which was Quincy. And then Anna Gret was Option 2. We have had a couple of situations in two point games this season where our Option 2 hasn't realized understood the urgency that they need to have to score, and I've got to be a better coach for them. When Anna Gret had the ball, she should have looked to score it right away and she didn't. That's a big lesson for me, a lesson for her. But TCU played really good defense as well.

Q. Coach, you were down double digits in the second half, you went on a big run. What went into making that run happen and what does it say about your team that they were able to fight back?

JACIE HOYT: I think everyone thinks because you play someone like Sedona, you have to have a big in there and quite honestly, that was kind of hurting. Our lineup at the time was not very effective. So we made a substitution. We put Rylee in and it was our heart, it was our heart. I don't think we had anyone out there who was over 6-feet tall. You have Stailee Heard battling a freshman in there like crazy against Sedona. Rylee shared in that. I think it was in their will to make a run. We were down 12 and then we were able to make a run and get the game back to where we wanted it to be going into the fourth. I just think -- that's been the theme for me all season long. Just the heart that they have.

There is nothing on paper that makes sense about that, that we would have made the run being so small. I thought defensively we gave them problems. Sedona on her 5 or 15, I'll take that, I think a lot of people would take that. Our kids did a really food job of spacing the floor with that smaller lineup and knocking down threes, so even when they were scoring at that time it was kind of like trading three's for two's. So I was proud of -- you know, we had to play that way for the first half of the season because that was one of the many lineup issues that we had, right?

Praise was hurt. Unfortunately Praise was hurt today. Praise had 14 points the first time we played TCU. We found out the day we left we were weren't going to have her today, so that was a hit. And going back to the beginning of the season we didn't have Praise and we didn't have Hannah, so they got a lot of reps with that smaller lineup, so was nothing new to us, and that run was a reflection of that.

Q. Quincy, there is a chance that was your last college game. What does it mean to you to put on a performance like that in that type of game and what has the season meant to you as a whole?

QUINCY NOBLE: Honestly, I credit my teammates. Like, I wouldn't be able to do that without their trust, their belief in me. This whole season, I don't think there is a team I love more, than the one this year. Oh my gosh.

They mean so much to me. They have made my last year so special and with so much love. We just fought with each other, so honestly it being able to end like that, credit to them. They trusted me, they helped me get the ball, their confidence in me, the whole thing, so I give credit to my teammates.

Q. Rylee, I know you're emotional, so the best way you can, Coach has credited you all season being a glue player, comes in does what she's supposed to, you put your head down, you fight. Today 12 points, five rebounds. What tonight was so special about playing on this stage for you?

RYLEE LANGERMAN: I mean, I think playing in a conference tournament is always different, playing in March, but knowing what you're playing for, just trying to get that win for Q to keep her career going is something that kind of gives you a little bit more energy, and I think just trying to go out there and do whatever I can to help my team win and doing anything I can to get Q that win tonight. It's really sad we weren't able to do that for her, but, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much.