OSU basketball notebook

Oklahoma State sophomore star point guard Andrea Riley suffered a bruised left knee with just under nine minutes left in the first half. Riley appeared a little hobbled at times but played through the pain.

"She bruised it pretty good,” said coach Kurt Budke. "When you're someone who is as quick and athletic as she is, any little thing can throw you off your game. She hung in there and found a way to get it done. She had 26 points, but these fans didn't get to see how good she can play.”

Budke and Riley are both confident the injury shouldn't be a factor Monday night in a second-round game.

"I just came down on it wrong,” Riley said. "My knee bothered me a little bit. I just had to play through it. I'll be fine Monday night.”

•Board work: One of the most disappointing developments for Budke was the Cowgirls are ranked in the top 30 nationally in rebounding margin but barely won the rebounding battle (46-45).

"They outcoached and outplayed us tonight,” Budke said. "I tried to stress (to my players) that mid-majors such as East Tennessee are very dangerous. They believe in themselves and they believe they can play with anybody. They played very relaxed. I know we can play better. I didn't like our effort.”

•Double digit machine: Riley scored a game-high 26 points, the 23rd consecutive game she has reached double figures. Dating back to Jan. 30, 2007, Riley has scored in double figures in 41 of the last 42 games.

•Physical game: Seniors Maria Cordero and Danielle Green both went down in the second half after hard falls.

Green twisted her left knee after a hard crash to the floor with 13:22 to play. Cordero slammed hard on the court following an offensive rebound with 8:23 left. Both players stayed in the game.

"They were a physical team,” Cordero said. "I guess we weren't prepared for them to do all that. We came out too loose. We need to play with a little more intensity like we have all year long.”

•First taste: East Tennessee State coach Karen Kemp said she was pleased with her team's first NCAA Tournament appearance, especially how the Bucs battled back from a 17-point deficit to claw to within 67-60.

"There are really not words to describe how proud I am of this team,” Kemp said. "They played very hard. My biggest fear going into this game was we might be in awe of everything. But we played really focused.

"We knew Oklahoma State was a good team, but I felt we gave it everything we had and played a good basketball game.”

•Been there, done that: Budke improved to 5-4 in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach. Budke was 4-3 during his three seasons at Louisiana Tech, highlighted by back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances.

By Mike Baldwin