Women's Basketball | 1/25/2017 12:39:00 PM
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State University women's basketball team takes to the road on Thursday evening for its third Sun Belt Conference game away from San Marcos when the Bobcats face Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can viewed nationwide on the WatchESPN platform. The Bobcats wrap up the road trip Saturday at Sun Belt newcomer Coastal Carolina, which is scheduled for a Noon CT opening tip.
Scene Setter
• Texas State plays its 19th game and eighth Sun Belt Conference tilt of 2016-17 slate on Thurs., Jan. 26 at Appalachian State.
• The Bobcats are 9-9 on the season, including 4-3 in Sun Belt play, and boast the Sun Belt's second-best scoring defense at 59.4 points per game.
• Against Sun Belt competition the Bobcats are shooting 40.4 percent from the floor, including 35.9 percent from three, and are averaging 7.3 3-pointers per game.
• Texas State enters the game on a three-game win streak. Most recently the Bobcats defeated Louisiana 62-40 last Saturday (Jan. 21). Appalachian State, which is 3-4 in conference play, is 8-10 on the season. The Mountaineers most recently fell 53-50 at Georgia Southern last Saturday.
TXST vs. APP
• Saturday marks the sixth meeting between Texas State and Appalachian State. The teams have split a pair of Sun Belt Conference games each of the past two seasons with the home team prevailing in each contest.
• Appalachian State's Madi Story hit the game-winner with three seconds to play, lifting the Mountaineers to a 66-64 win on Dec. 31.
Last Time Out For the Bobcats
•
Taeler Deer scored a game-high 22 points and
Ericka May pulled down a career-high 16 points in leading Texas State to a 62-40 win over Louisiana Saturday afternoon in Sun Belt women's basketball action.
• Deer, who registered her second 20-plus point performance of the season, finished the game 9 of 19 form the floor, while also dishing out a game-high six assists.
Toshua Leavitt also finished in double-figures with 11 points, going 4 of 8 overall and 3 of 7 from three. Texas State shot 38.1 percent (24 of 63) for the game, scored 30 points in the paint and forced 12 Ragin' Cajun turnovers.
• Louisiana was led by Simone Fields' 13-point, 10-rebound double-double. Jaylyn Gordon, who entered the game averaging 19.1 points per outing, scored 12 points on 24 field goal attempts, including 2 of 11 from three. The Ragin' Cajuns Shot 26.2 percent (16 of 61) for the game after making five of its first 10 shot attempts.
Noteworthy Performances
• Texas State committed a season-low five turnovers, while forcing the Ragin' Cajuns into 12.
• Texas State limited Louisiana to 16.7 percent from three, marking the third straight game the Bobcats held their opponent to under 20.0 percent from three.
Top Defense In the Sun Belt
• Texas State boasts the Sun Belt's top defense in league games. Since the start of conference play the Bobcats led the league in scoring defense at 55.4 points per game, field goal percentage defense (34.5 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (19.7 percent).
Deer's Offensive Contribution
•
Taeler Deer averaged 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game in leading Texas State to a pair of wins against ULM (Jan. 19) and Louisiana (Jan. 21) that pushed the Bobcats into a tie for fourth in the league standings.
• Deer started the week with eight points, seven rebounds and a career-high 11 assists (against a single turnover) in the win over ULM. She then scored 22 points – her second 20-plus point scoring game of the season – to go along with six assists (against no turnovers) and three rebounds in the win over Louisiana.
• In all, she scored or assists on 71 (56.8 percent) of TXST's 125 total points for the week.
Balanced Scoring
• Texas State deploys a balanced offense that relies on no one player to carry the scoring load. Entering Jan. 26, eight Bobcats average between 4.0 and 9.7 points per game.
Taeler Deer currently lead the TXST charge at 9.7 ppg, but both
Toshua Leavitt (8.0 ppg) and
McKinley Bostad (7.0 ppg) have spent time as the team's leading scorer.
• Through 18 games, seven different Bobcats have led the team in scoring with Deer proving to be the squad's top scorer in six contests and Leavitt in four.
Finding The Right Mix
• Texas State has used 10 different starting lineups this season with only
Ti'Aira Pitts starting each game.
• The Bobcats' most recent starting lineup of
Toshua Leavitt (1/g),
Taeler Deer (2/g),
Erin Peoples (3/g),
Amber Jones (4/f) and
Ti'Aira Pitts (5/f) is 3-0 and is averaging 46.7 of the Bobcats' 60.7 points per game.
• Seven of Texas State's 14 active players have saw action in at least 17 games and an additional three seeing time in at least 12 contests.
Bobcats In The Sun Belt Rankings
• As of Jan. 22 Texas State ranks in the top half of the Sun Belt Conference in 10 of the league's 21 key statistical categories. The Bobcats' top statistical categories are its top-ranked 29.0 field goal percentage defense and second-ranked scoring defense, which is allowing 59.4 points per game.
Leavitt For Three
• Sophomore guard
Toshua Leavitt lead the Bobcats and ranks third in the Sun Belt Conference with 35 made 3-pointers this season.
• Leavitt has made four or more triples five times this season, including a career-high five against ULM (Jan. 19).
• She has shot better than 40.0 percent from beyond the arc in eight contests, including a season-best 57.1 percent (4 of 7) against Coastal Carolina on Dec. 29.
Sun Belt Conference Championship
• The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy. New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from the Texas State ticket office. For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites -
Men's Championship –
Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media -
@SunBelt.
