Feb. 18, 2006

Final Stats

SAN ANTONIO - Tamara Thompson scored a career-high 32 points and completed her fifth double-double of the year with 15 rebounds, as Texas State erased a 30-point UTSA lead in a 73-71 overtime win Saturday at the UTSA Convocation Center.

Riley and Thompson combined for 14 of the Bobcats' season-low 15 first-half points, and Riley's 13 points in the game marked her second double-digit scoring output of the year.

Joyce Ekworomadu joined Thompson and Riley in double figures, scoring 11 in the win. UTSA was paced by four players in double-digits, led by Terrie Davis' 17.

Texas State (14-9, 6-6) scored 48 in the second half and added ten in overtime while holding Texas-San Antonio (14-10, 8-4) to 21 second-half points and 22.9-percent shooting in the second frame.

The Roadrunners beat the Bobcats 50-49 on the boards, but Texas State forced UTSA into 15 turnovers and nine steals in one of the largest comebacks in Bobcat basketball history.

Texas State opened the second half on a 9-5 run, topped by a Riley jumper at the16:30 mark that cut the UTSA lead to 23, and Thompson hit a pair of free throws to bring the score to 48-26 with 15:35 left in the game.

Thompson's made free throws sparked a 6-0 run that lasted two minutes and slimmed the Roadrunner lead to 18 at 48-30.

UTSA would fire back, scoring the next three to lead 51-30, but Texas State blitzed the Roadrunners over the next six minutes, getting to within 13 by way of a 13-5 run that included six straight points near the seven-minute mark in regulation.

Ashley Leffingwell's three out of a Roadrunner time out ran the spurt to 16-5 and made the score 56-46 with 6:51 to play, and the Bobcats slashed the Roadrunner lead to single digits, 61-52, on Thompson's front-end free throw with 4:23 to go in the half.

Riley knocked down a jumper to cut the lead to 61-54 with 3:30 remaining, and after a quick defensive stop, Thompson brought the `Cats to within four on a completed three-point play at the game's three-minute mark.

Up 61-57, UTSA moved its lead to six on a jumper in the lane with two to play, but on the Bobcats' next possession, Riley followed her own missed free throw with a basket at the 1:30 mark to move the `Cats within three at 63-60.

Texas State forced a stop on the defensive end, and with less than a minute left in the game, Thompson nailed a three-point shot at the top of the key to tie the score at 63-63.

Thompson would have one more chance in regulation, firing up a 40-foot desperation three at the buzzer, but the ball rimmed in-and-out bringing Texas State to its second overtime contest of the year.

UTSA scored the first basket one minute and 20 seconds into the overtime period to take a 65-63 lead, and after a pair of ties on the next four trips down the floor, Texas State forced a missed lay-up and Thompson knocked down a jumper to take a 69-67 lead with 1:23 left.

The Roadrunners managed to tie the game twice more, but with three seconds left, the `Cats sealed the game when Thompson knocked down two free throws and Jenna Hoffman grabbed a steal to ice the two-point win.

Texas State scored just two points over the first eight minutes of the opening half, and the `Cats finished the period 22.6 percent from the floor, as UTSA carried a 42-15 lead into intermission.

Texas-San Antonio held the Bobcats scoreless for the game's first 5:50, opening on a 10-0 run that was stopped on Thompson's jumper with 14:10 left in the first.

UTSA's lead continued to grow at the 5:20 mark when Terrie Davis nailed a three that put the Roadrunners up 32-6, and UTSA finished the final five-plus minutes on a 10-9 run to take a 27-point lead at halftime.

Texas State will return home Thursday, when the `Cats open a two-game home stand against Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin. Thursday's tip against the Lady Lions is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Strahan Coliseum.