Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Jacie Hoyt and her staff were intent on sustaining the momentum of the program this offseason.
With back-to-back seasons of 24 or more wins, The Cowgirls were unable to retain its roster. In fact, the only players returning next season is guard/forward Stailee Heard, who has been a star since she arrived as a freshman and has at least one year of eligibility remaining. Everyone else on last year’s team either ran out of eligibility or transferred out.
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There are many ways to build a team now. Hoyt and her staff tapped heavily into the transfer portal and one graphic shows just how good the class was.
OSU Cowgirls’ Huge Transfer Haul
USA Today is one of several publications that has ranked women’s basketball players that were in the transfer portal this offseason. Oklahoma State has signed eight players via the transfer portal and five of them were ranked in the publication’s Top 100.
The list begins with former Iowa State center Audi Crooks, who was considered by several services as the No. 1 player in the transfer portal. Right behind her was guard Liv McGill out of Florida, who was ranked No. 2.
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Lindenwood guard Ellie Brueggemann was ranked No. 36. Former Baylor guard Yuting Deng was ranked No. 80 and Rutgers guard Nene Ndiaye was ranked No. 95.
Four of the five players averaged double figures in scoring a season ago. Crooks earned all-America honors twice and left the Cyclones after three seasons ranked second in program history with her 2,256 points. She averaged 25.8 points and 7.7 rebounds last year. McGill, an All-SEC selection, figures to be the starting point guard after she averaged 22.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season. She was an honorable mention all-America selection.
Brueggemann was a 44% 3-point shooter and averaged 14 points and 3.1 assists last season. She’s averaged double figures in each of her three collegiate seasons.
Ndiaye averaged nearly 14.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last year for the Scarlet Knights, her first season in double figures in three collegiate seasons. Deng averaged 6.6 points per game for Baylor. But, the season before at Auburn, she averaged 11.8 points.
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Those rankings don’t include Talexa Weeter, the Fort Hays State star who was the Division II player of the year after she averaged 27.5 points per game and broke her conference’s single-season scoring record with 852 points.
The other transfers included former Utah guard LA Sneed and former Missouri State guard Zoe Canfield, who missed most of last season due to injury.
OSU also announced three prep signings in November. That included guard Addisyn Bollinger from Frenship High School in Lubbock, Texas; Annie Kibedi, a forward from Antwerp, Belgium; and forward Bralyn Peck from Decatur, Texas.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/oklahomastate as OSU Cowgirls Basketball’s Incredible Transfer Class Explained in One Graphic.
