Stillwater, Okla. ? Oklahoma State guard Taylor Hardeman has tried to forget about her freshman season. Shaunte Smith isn’t much for recalling specifics from that time, either.

It’s easy to understand why. Just two years removed from going winless in the Big 12, the Cowgirls are in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 for the first time in 17 seasons.

Hardeman, a junior, does acknowledge that Oklahoma State’s rise from the depths has made her appreciate this season’s success even more.

“It’s a blessing to see where it’s come from and where it could even go,” Hardeman said. “…Some people don’t understand how hard it really is to come from that to this.”

Oklahoma State (27-7) faces LSU (29-5) on Saturday in the New Orleans regional semifinals. It’s a long way from going 6-22 and 0-16 in the league in 2005-06.

Even the record doesn’t adequately depict how overmatched Oklahoma State was. The Cowgirls closed with 17 straight losses, all but three coming by 10 or more points.

The constant drubbings were enough to test the perpetually positive attitude of Kurt Budke, the coach Oklahoma State hired to return the program to respectability.

“That first year was tough,” Budke said Wednesday. “We were going into games with no chance to win. You hoped your young kids played hard and that they didn’t get beat by 40.”

Smith started 22 games that season for the Cowgirls and now tries to look back for positive lessons to glean from that difficult time.

“There were some bumps in the road, but you don’t have any success without struggle,” she said.

“When you win, you get a lot more respect and you get recognized. As a freshman, it was like we didn’t even exist. No one really came to our games and no one really acknowledged us. But now that we’re winning and doing great things for the university, it’s totally changed.”

Oklahoma State has some tradition of success in women’s basketball. In 19 seasons under coach Dick Halterman, the Cowgirls made seven trips to the NCAA tournament. During the 1990-91 season, Oklahoma State went 27-6 and reached regional semifinals.