Cordero to the rescue

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Ragged offense. Weak physically. Weak mentally. Defense on East Tennessee State sharpshooter Michele DeVault.

Then the Cowgirl basketball coach listed all the things he liked about OSU's first NCAA Tournament victory in a dozen years.

Maria Cordero.

The Cowgirl center had 23 points and nine rebounds and was the stabilizing force in a frenetic game at Wells Fargo Arena. State could throw the ball to Cordero, and good things generally happened.

"That's basically what I told the team,” Budke said. "We saw a senior come step up and play like she knew the next loss is her last one.”

That's the attitude needed from every Cowgirl in the NCAA Tournament. Including Cordero again Monday night, since both Florida State and Ohio State, who played late Saturday night for the right to meet the Cowgirls, sport big post players.

This OSU team can go far. But it must play well to reach New Orleans next weekend. It must play better to win Monday night, against the winner of the late Ohio State-Florida State game.

Cordero held up her end Saturday night. Freed from the Big 12 redwoods, she played tough inside, blocking and bothering shots and scoring in the paint.

East Tennessee was a scrappy opponent; athletic and energetic. Few 14-seeds win in women's hoops — or men's, for that matter — but this was not a pushover team. This was a game the Cowgirls could have lost had Cordero not shown up.

"She played like an all-star tonight,” said OSU's Danielle Green, a junior-college teammate of Cordero's at Central Arizona. "She carried us the whole way.”

OSU ran a lot of motion offense. That meant Cordero didn't stray too far from the hoop, as she often does, where she is more than capable of nailing a 3-pointer. The paint was kind to Cordero. She dominated inside.

"I just came in ready to play,” Cordero said. "My teammates passed me the ball and gave it to me inside.”

A viral infection hampered Cordero's first year in Stillwater. She averaged 15 points a game last season in non-conference, then her playing time dwindled. In OSU's NCAA Tournament loss to Bowling Green, Cordero played three minutes.

But this year, Cordero has started 31 of 32 games and become one of the key members of Andrea Riley's posse. Cordero is averaging 9.6 points and 6.0 rebounds a game. Which makes a game of 23 and 9 huge.

"She did an outstanding job finishing tonight,” Budke said. "I couldn't be more happy for her. I'm really proud of her. She's really gotten better in the last month.”

That's how teams get better and make deep runs in March.

Cordero scored 15 points in the second half, when the game turned most sloppy.

"Tonight wasn't very pretty, but we have another chance,” Cordero said.

She's a big reason why.