Women's Basketball | 12/2/2015 2:47:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women's basketball team returns home for a pair of games, beginning with UTSA in the I-35 rivalry game on Thursday, Dec. 3. Tip-off against the Roadrunners is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Strahan Coliseum.
 
The remaining home non-conference game for the Bobcats will be on Dec. 13 when Texas State welcomes Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
Texas State enters into Thursday's match-up with a 2-4 record with victories against St. Edward's and North Texas. Against North Texas, Texas State forced 25 turnovers and Taeler Deer recorded a career-high 32 points en route to the 64-62 victory against the Mean Green.
 
While at the Cancun Challenge last week, the 'Cats competed in three games against Iowa State, Idaho, and No. 12 Duke. In addition to Duke, Idaho is receiving votes in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll. Guard Kaitlin Walla was named to the Cancun Challenge All-Tournament Team. Against Iowa State, Walla tallied a season-high 14 points with three, three-pointers for the 'Cats.
 
A Look At The Competition – UTSA
The Roadrunners into Thursday's contest with a 2-2 overall record with wins against Illinois State and Houston Baptist in the last two games and losses to Texas and Abilene Christian to start the year.
 
Three members of the UTSA squad are averaging double-digit points with Tesha Smith leading the way with 11.0 per game. In addition, Smith leads the Roadrunners with 8.5 rebounds and is second with a pair of blocks.
 
UTSA has kept the same starting line-up for all four games this season, consisting of Nia Mitchell-Cole, Alexus Dukes, Akunna Elonu, Dempse Thornton, and Mathide Hergott. Mitchell-Cole and Dukes are the other two players who are contributing double-digit points per game.
 
The Roadrunners were picked to finish seventh in the Conference USA while receiving one first-place vote. They are under the direction of Lubomyr Lichonczak who is currently in his third season at the helm of the UTSA women's basketball program.
 
Last Time Out
Last season, eight straight points in the final 44 seconds by guard Ayriel Anderson lifted the Bobcats to a 57-53 victory over the Roadrunners. In the final moments of the game, the Bobcats found themselves down as many as seven before producing an 11-0 run to defeat UTSA.
 
Anderson finished the game with 12 points while the 'Cats were led by Meghan Braeuer and Erin Peoples with 15 points apiece. Texas State recorded 10 steals while forcing 20 UTSA turnovers.
 
Bobcat Tidbits
Freshman Toshua Leavitt also had a solid tournament down in Cancun in addition to Walla as she made a team-high nine three-pointers including a career-high four against Idaho. She averaged just under 10 points a game to lead Texas State.
 
Taeler Deer leads the Bobcats with 12.2 points per game and Ericka May is the team leader in boards with 5.7 a contest. Deer and Leavitt are both shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc this season and Walla and Anderson are perfect from the charity stripe.
 
Texas State is led by head coach Zenarae Antoine who enters into her fifth season at the helm of the Bobcats. She became the first coach in school history to lead the Bobcats to back-to-back postseason appearances.
 
Final Details
Tip-off against the Roadrunners is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Strahan Coliseum. Live stats, live audio, and live video will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com. For more information on the Texas State women's basketball team, go online to the official website of Texas State Athletics (www.txstatebobcats.com), Facebook at Texas State Women's Basketball, or by following on Twitter at @TxStateWBB.