BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2025

Jacie Hoyt

Anna Gret Asi

T-Mobile Center

Oklahoma State Cowgirls

Postgame Press Conference

Baylor 84, Oklahoma State 74

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Jacie Hoyt and student-athlete Anna Gret Asi. Coach?

JACIE HOYT: I'm really very proud of our team for the way that they fought today. I loved the way that they came out just swinging and got us off to a really good start. And obviously it was never going to be an easy game, we knew that, but I thought we had a great start and loved the energy that we started the game with. It was hard to sustain that, just getting in early foul trouble. So that definitely made a difference for us.

Overall, I thought it was an incredible basketball game, what an incredible basketball game, two teams fighting with everything they had. Obviously Aaronette Vonleh was out of her mind. We didn't have an answer for her. The answer to her was on the bench. The answer was Ténin Magassa, who got to play 17 minutes today.

That was just a tough go for us. She was phenomenal. She made big threes down the stretch in overtime to blow it open. And couldn't recover from that.

But all in all, I absolutely going to war with this group of girls. They have just been so fun to compete with and giving us everything that we've asked them to do, just giving us their whole hearts.

So today does hurt, a lot, because of that, but I'm so proud of everything that we have done overall, the season, the conference. No one thought we would be here. Coaches picked us 11th. So to finish as a 3-seed and be in the semifinal game today feeling like we woulda, coulda, shoulda won, I'm really, really proud of that and love the position that our program is in right now in general.

Q. Jacie, a little bit of frustration there with how active the whistles were today, but what is your message to your team in those moments where things feel a little bit out of control?

JACIE HOYT: I wasn't very good in the first half. I was really frustrated with them. So I felt like I needed to be better. I was very frustrated. It's just hard to -- I'm not going to say a lot, but it's hard to win games with whistles like that. I was much better in the second half, as much as I could be. Getting back to neutral and just challenged our team to do the same thinking.

That's a part of the game, though, it's going to happen. Fully understand that. I just wish it didn't feel sometimes that that was where the game was decided. All in all, I've got to be better in those situations moving forward, and our team has to be better, and I know we all will be.

Q. Coach, was there an explanation on the whistle in overtime?

JACIE HOYT: No, I never got an explanation. It was an inadvertent whistle is what they ended up saying. My frustration was just that I wanted to -- I didn't call a timeout, then we had to stop, and then we spent the entire time thinking we had the timeout. So we thought we could advance, wasted the whole timeout talking about something that never came to fruition. So that was -- the explanation in a roundabout way they gave us was the whistle was inadvertent and we couldn't take a timeout.

Q. Could you walk us through the last shot in regulation that you had in your possession.

JACIE HOYT: I trust Micah Gray in situations like that. She has been one of the most clutch players for us all season long. She has hit big shots time and time and time again. We got the shot that we wanted, just didn't fall this time.

Q. In that series in the last minute of the third quarter, you go Gray, Gray, Baylor turnover, and then Gray to tie it up 52-52. How did that change the game going into the 4th for you guys?

JACIE HOYT: It was huge. A total swing in momentum. That's been a staple for us this season, knocking down those threes and Micah has been one of the best for us, in doing that. I think it gave us all that little boost we needed, because we felt like we were fighting through so much. We had weird line-ups on the floor, just trying to figure things out with an unorthodox line-up for us so that was huge for us when she hit those shots.

Q. You talked about how special this season has been. You have had all these wins. How does that carry over to Selection Sunday?

JACIE HOYT: At the end of the day we still get to play. That was the goal for this season was to position ourselves to get to play in the tournament. We were able to do that. My first season here, and Anna Gret has been a huge part of that. She has literally been the face of our program in the last few years. We didn't get to have that together last year, and we hated it; everyone did. So the whole goal was to get back to the tournament.

It's amazing to get to lose at this time of year and know you still get to play, and you still get to play in the biggest tournament of the year that we have all been striving to do. So while this really, really hurts we still have everything that we want ahead of us. One thing about this group. I have loved our response after losses. We haven't had to feel it very much, that feeling of losing, but every single time we have, they bounce back that much better and stronger. So we're really looking forward to Selection Sunday.

Q. Anna Gret, what has been special about this team? I know tonight's disappointing, but how forward are you looking to the NCAA Tournament and trying to make a run there?

ANNA GRET ASI: I think this year's team has just stuck together through like everything. And kinda just connected on a level that I haven't really been a part of before, just peoplewise, not even like just on the court stuff, like just -- like loving to be around each other. I think that's why, like, it hurts so much, because we want to be successful for each other and, like, today obviously one of our goals -- like Coach said, we haven't said it out loud that our goal was to come here and, like, possibly play for the championship. But, like, deep inside everybody felt we were capable of that. I feel like we kind of just feel like we let ourselves down a little bit, too.

Not in terms that we didn't play hard, but kind of -- I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it just feels like every time we have lost, we go back and think that, like, we could have done something better and, like, this one just hurts a little bit more because it was like, probably one of the biggest games of our season.

Q. Jacie, you mentioned the big rotation. Can you talk us through kind of the -- situationally how you decided to get Ténin back in the game, and also Praise was sort of put in a tough spot, but how do you think she stepped up to the challenge of defending Vonleh?

JACIE HOYT: Praise never backs down. She is going to give you everything she has every time. With the quick turn around sometimes it's hard to talk about everything. Obviously we knew that she was going to be the first option for them, but just in those moments it was hard to coach her the way that we needed to.

We ended up going to the zone, and that was effective for a while, but even that was a little bit unique for everyone, but especially Praise. But Praise -- could she have been better? She could have been, but it was never from a lack of effort. That's never the case with any of our kids. But credit to Vonleh; she is an hell of a player.

Q. Anna Gret, not the result you wanted, but what does it do for this team going to war in such a unique situation away from home when you prepped for this tournament coming up to kind of learn what this group can do in such high-intensity situations?

ANNA GRET ASI: I think this was like a good -- I don't want to say warm-up for the NCAA Tournament but this is a setting that we -- this group hasn't been a part of before, so NCAA is probably going to look something similar, and what was the other part of the question? I'm sorry.

Q. (Away from mic.)

ANNA GRET ASI: Yeah, I feel like yesterday in the beginning of the game we kind of -- like our shots weren't falling, and it just kinda felt a little like unclear, maybe that, like -- like we were rushing a lot yesterday and it's like a new environment. I think that was a little bit a part of that, too.

Overall I think that was a really good experience that we can take going into the NCAA Tournament and learn from it.

Q. Anna Gret, obviously March calls for pretty emotional high-pressure games. Moving forward how are y'all going to come together and keep each other in check when it comes to that emotion on and off the court?

ANNA GRET ASI: I feel like we have been doing a lot better with keeping each other -- holding each other accountable in a lot of different situations. I feel like everybody just understands that, like, the team comes first and like however we are feeling or however we're, I don't know, performing on the court, that they -- like, we gotta be happy for each other and do everything we can for each other so the team can -- so us as a team can play as long as we can.

Q. Jacie, I know the outcome wasn't what you wanted, but Jadyn had some significant moments and important free throws down the stretch. How do you think she handled it with close friends in the stands today?

JACIE HOYT: I'm so proud of her. Jadyn grew up the last couple games, not just today but yesterday I thought defensively she was excellent for us. Today she grew up offensively knocking down those free throws, like you said. She was so good at facilitating offensive for us, five assists. When she is getting paint touches and kicking out and finding the open man, we're just such a good team. We're better for it when she is doing that.

Her -- I don't want to say issue, but her weakness, if you will, has just been her ability to be consistent. Because when she is playing well, I mean, she is one of the best players out there, and we are a better team for it. But we have struggled a little bit to have her be consistent with those games. But for her to put-back-to-back games together, I'm so proud of her.

It's not just Jadyn, we have one kid on this team who has played in an NCAA Tournament, one, and she is sitting with me. Jadyn, freshmen, the transfers, the kids that we have, this is a lot for them. I have never been more proud of the way that they have handled it, and fought all season long to get where we are. Jadyn is definitely a catalyst to that. She is fearless. I think she gives a lot of people around her confidence, but I'm super proud of Jadyn, and I think she grew up tremendously, and I am very, very excited about our future right now.

Q. Coach, as much as you can, where would you like to see yourselves Selection Sunday, at the end of the day?

JACIE HOYT: I think we've proven that we're one of the best teams in the country. Our resume shows that. You know, we've got five quad 1 wins, not sure what the net was today, it to say 26. Go to overtime with Baylor today. We belong with the best of the best, and I'm really hoping we can get off that 7 line that they keep projecting us at. I for the life of me do not understand that but ultimately that's not in our control.

Like I said the, biggest thing is we know we get to see our nails on that screen and we're going to continue to control what we can, gotta stick together, prepare in the meantime. I think, you know, you look at this conference and you got five teams in the Top-25, I don't want to attempt to say all the net rankings, but I know it's damn good, and this conference deserves to have our teams in it, not just a lot of teams in it but with those higher seeds. I hope we get the respect as a conference that I believe we have earned and certainly as a team.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.