STARKVILLE — After Oklahoma State guard Jaden Hobbs nailed her fourth-straight 3-pointer against Syracuse on Saturday afternoon, she turned to the Orange bench and grinned as she ran up the court.
The bucket extended the Cowgirls’ lead to 15 points late in the third, and Hobbs, who averages four points per game, had just thrown a wrench in the Syracuse game plan.
The redshirt freshman finished with a career-high 27 points to help No. 9 seed OSU defeat No. 8 seed Syracuse 84-57 in their opening game of the NCAA women’s tournament.
After the game, Hobbs acknowledged the gesture toward the Syracuse bench, and while she quickly deferred to her teammates for routinely breaking the Orange press and getting her open looks, no one could blame her for relishing in the moment. Hobbs, who was 8 of 9 from 3-point range and played a season-high 37 minutes, had scored a total of three buckets in the her previous six games.
“It was surprising I was in that position,” Hobbs said. “But I had confidence I could do it.”
Hobbs has never lacked for confidence — she’s a former Oklahoma prep player of the year and three-time state champion at Alva High School. She entered the game with OSU’s second-most 3-pointers this season. But consistency had been lacking in her game, and she’d been in and out of the OSU starting lineup since Areanna Combs was injured and lost for the season on Jan. 3.
“She’s played with some hesitation this year,” OSU coach Jim Littell said. “It’s been a challenge to get her to shoot the ball. When she pump-faked and let somebody fly by her, I thought, ‘OK, that was pretty good.’ ”
OSU’s win was the first for any of its players in the NCAA tournament.
OSU will face No. 1 Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Monday (ESPN2). OSU limped through its final six games of Big 12 Conference play, losing four of six and falling to West Virginia in the conference tournament. OSU blew a 14-point halftime lead and scored just five points in the fourth quarter of that game.
OSU didn’t shoot better than 36 percent in any of its last four conference losses. But Hobbs filled in brilliantly for a team that has struggled to find a consistent third scoring option behind post player Kaylee Jensen and point guard Loryn Goodwin.
Hobbs, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament during her first season in Stillwater, Oklahoma, has played almost exclusively as a spot-up shooter this season. Her previous scoring-high was 12 against Kansas on Feb. 21.
“Syracuse wants to play a high-possession game and force tempo,” Littell said. “We told (Hobbs), ‘If you’re open at the end of it, shoot it every time.’ Maybe (making shots) instilling confidence in her helped.”
Syracuse, the 2016 national runner-up, dug out of an early 10-point deficit and took a 32-29 lead in the second quarter. The Orange rode a gritty press and zone defense during that stretch, forcing five turnovers during the run to the lead, but OSU closed the second quarter on an 11-0 run and a 40-32 lead, capped by an open 3-pointer by Maria Castro.
Syracuse made it a five-point game early in the third quarter, forcing an OSU timeout. But the Cowgirls responded with a 13-2 run, capped by Hobbs’ first of four-straight 3-pointers.
OSU’s perimeter players benefited from Jensen dominating inside against freshman post player Amaya Finklea-Guity. Jensen went 8 of 15 for 19 points and pulled down seven offensive boards. The inside-out play helped OSU shoot 13 of 23 from beyond the arc.
“We knew they could shoot,” Syracuse point guard Tiana Mangakahia, said. “We knew what we had to do and were prepared, but we didn’t communicate well at all.”
Miranda Drummond, had seven 3-pointers and 24 points for Syracuse. Mangakahia, Syracuse’s leading scorer, had eight points on 3-of-14 shooting.
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