Princeton battled back from being 18 points down, but the Oklahoma State Cowgirls pulled away down the stretch to defeat the Tigers, 82-68, on Saturday in the first round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament. It was OSU head coach Jacie Hoyt’s first March Madness victory in her fourth season at OSU.

The eighth-seeded Cowgirls (24-9) were led by Achol Akot with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Jaydyn Wooten had 18 points and 10 assists and Micah Gray added 16 points.

Oklahoma State had lost in the first round in its last two March Madness appearances.

The Cowgirls led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter, following runs of 14-0 and 8-0 to lead 48-33 at halftime.

The Cowgirls run in the NCAA Tournament came to an end on Monday night, as UCLA dominated the game from start to finish to defeat OSU, 87-68. UCLA advanced to the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive year.

Lauren Betts led the Bruins (33-1) with a career-high 35 points on 15-of-19 shooting and nine rebounds.

“They have a team that I believe is capable of winning it all,” Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt said.

The Cowgirls were led by Achol Akot who scored 23 points and Jadyn Wooten added 18 points and six assists.

“We know that they’re really big, but we also have speed as an advantage,” Wooten said. “We didn’t get off to the start that we wanted to, but coming into the second half, it was just something we thought we could take advantage of.”

Hoyt admitted her team didn’t play well early in the game, but felt her team battled back and competed the rest of the way.

“When you take out that first quarter, we went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country, and beat them in the second half,” Hoyt said.

UCLA will play fourth-seeded Minnesota (24-10) in a matchup of Big Ten opponents Friday in Sacramento.