The Daily O’Collegian

Playing in a big conference with big time teams, Oklahoma State turned to a little freshman guard.

It turned to the right person, for that little freshman guard piloted the team to an eight-game conference turnaround and an NCAA tournament berth.

Andrea Riley led the Cowgirls last year with 12.8 points per game and five assists per contest on her way to earning Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors.

Although she stands 5-foot-5, her blazing speed makes her the most dangerous player on the court.

Now a sophomore and more adjusted to the speed of the game, Riley said sheplans to slow down slightly and take control of the game.

“That was the kind of difficult thing for me last year,” Riley said. “I couldn’t understand when I needed to speed up and when I needed to slow down. I always thought I had to just speed up all the time.”

During the 2006-07 season, Riley played full speed the entire game.

Although this led to an enormous number of steals and fast break points, Cowgirl coach Kurt Budke said Andrea will be ready to play under more control this year.

“When you give the keys to a freshman point guard in the Big 12, it’s gonna be a roller coaster ride,” Budke said. “And you know what? At times, it was. Now she understands the strength and the speed and the great coaches in this league.”

Riley was highly touted out of high school, but opponents did not know what they could expect from the true freshman.

After leading all Big 12 freshmen in scoring, assists and steals, Riley is no longer going to surprise anyone.

“I told her she’s going to be more of a focus of game plans this year from the other teams,” Budke said. “They’re going to try to take her out of the game just a little bit more, but I’ll tell you that’s hard to do. You’ve gotta catch her first.”

Budke said that despite other teams’ best defensive efforts, Riley may still be hard to zero in on.

“Sometimes it’s easier to take a forward or a post out because you know where they’re gonna be and you can double team them,” Budke said. “But when you’ve got a point guard that’s as quick as she is, she’s hard to run down.”

Riley’s surprising capability  as a freshman might have stemmed from her stiff competition in earlier years.

“My dad always had me play an upper division than everybody else,” Riley said. “He never wanted me to play the same age as myself because he wanted me to be better, and he wanted me to have a challenge for basketball.”

Years later, Riley is under the same circumstances.

She is playing with competition that is bigger, stronger and older than she.

After an exceptional year in the toughest conference in the NCAA, Riley’s coach said he believes she will only continue to improve.

“She’s physically stronger than she was last year,” Budke said. “She’s smarter than she was last year. She will not take a step back. There will be no sophomore slump for that one.”