SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State women's basketball opens up play in the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship on Thursday at 5 p.m. inside the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The Bobcats will open with the seventh seeded Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, who defeated the 10th seeded Georgia State Panthers on March 6 by a score of 74-55. TXST split the season series with CCU, losing 65-64 on Dec. 31, 2017 in Conway, S.C. before upending the Chanticleers on Feb. 1 in Strahan Coliseum by a score of 78-69.
Last Time Out for the Bobcats
• The Bobcats ended the regular season with a record of 21-8 (14-4 SBC) after handling the UT Arlington Mavericks (18-11, 12-6 SBC) by a score of 75-58 inside Strahan Coliseum on March 3.
• The victory clinched the No. 2 seed for Texas State in the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship.
•
Taeler Deer was sensational in what could be her final game at Strahan Coliseum, scoring a game-high 28 points for the Bobcats. The senior also handed out five assists, grabbed four rebounds and chipped in four steals while playing the full 40 minutes.
•
Toshua Leavitt regained her shooting groove, knocking down 6-of-9 shots from behind the 3-point. The junior guard scored 20 points in the game, the 11th time this season she has scored at least 20 points in a game. Like Deer, Leavitt played the full 40 minutes.
• Senior forward
Ericka May scored 11 points to give the Bobcats a third scorer in double-figures. May converted 4-of-7 shot attempts and added three steals in 31 minutes of action.
Deer Named Sun Belt Player of the Year
• Deer becomes just the third player in Texas State women's basketball history to be named conference player of the year. Both Tori Talbert (2003) and Joyce Ekworomadu (2008) were named Southland Conference players of the year
• Additionally, Deer becomes the 11th player to be selected as a first team all-conference performer, the first since joining the Sun Belt prior to the 2013-14 season. Diamond Ford was the last player to garner first team all-conference considerations, doing so as part of the Western Athletic Conference in 2012-13.
• Running the point, Deer was able to guide the Bobcat offense to the second-highest scoring mark in the Sun Belt, scoring 71.4 points per game as a team.
• Deer, a preseason second-team all-SBC pick, scored in double figures in 24 of 29 Bobcat games this season, including each of the last 16 outings. The senior topped the 20-point barrier on eight occasions.
• She has led the team in assists 26 times and has handed out eight or more helpers on 12 occasions. That includes a single-game school record 14 assists against Georgia State on Jan. 27.
• Deer co-led the team with five double-doubles, all with points and assists, with four coming in conference play.
Leavitt Earned Second-Team All-SBC Accolades
• Leavitt is on pace to break the NCAA record for made 3-pointers in a single season. She has buried 125 triples this year, which stands four shy of Brianna Butler's mark of 129. Butler, of Syracuse, established the NCAA record during the 2015-16 campaign.
• Leavitt ended the regular season as the Sun Belt's second most prolific scorer, averaging 18.3 points per contest. She tallied 20 points or more 11 times during the 2017-18 season. In each of the 11 games she made at least six 3-point tries.
• She eclipsed the 30-point plateau twice, scoring a career-best 34 points at CCU and GSU. She was named Sun Belt Player of the Week twice this season and was a preseason second-team selection.
Bobcats by the Numbers
• 109 - Head coach
Zenarae Antoine became the fourth coach in program history to eclipse 100 career victories at Texas State after defeating ULM, 86-52, on Jan. 18, 2018. Antoine's 107 career wins rank fourth in school history, trailing Suzanne Fox (174), Judy Rinker (145) and Linda Sharp (138).
• 70 - The Bobcats are a perfect 16-0 on the season, including a mark of 9-0 in Sun Belt play, when scoring at least 70 points. Currently, the Cats average 71.4 points per contest as a team.
• 40 - Texas State has not lost a game (17-0) in which the team has shot at least 40 percent from the floor. Conversely, the Bobcats are 4-8 this season when shooting under 40 percent.
• 24.8 - Defensively, Texas State holds opponents to 24.8 percent from the 3-point line, which is the top mark in the NCAA. TXST limits opponents to just four makes from deep per contest.
• 21 - Texas State's 21 victories match the program record for single-season wins in the NCAA Division I era. The 2007-08 team went 21-11 in route to a Southland Conference championship and a berth in the WNIT.
Tracking Deer
• Senior guard
Taeler Deer has her name etched all over the Texas State women's basketball record books, earning a spot on five separate lists, not to mention being one of just two Bobcat women to ever amass more than 1,000 career points and 400 career assists.
• On Dec. 29, 2017, Deer became the 16th player in program history, and just the fifth player under head coach
Zenarae Antoine to eclipse the 1,000-point milestone, joining:
Ayriel Anderson, Ashley Azeh, Diamond Ford and
Erin Peoples.
• Deer ranks tied for ninth in program history in career points, netting 1,310 points. She is seventh on the all-time made 3-point list with 126 makes during her four seasons in the maroon and gold and has made 45 attempts during her senior campaign.
• She ranks second in program history, dishing out 403 assists throughout her career. She trails only Shelley Borton, who notched 595 assists from 1986-90, on the career list. The 187 helpers she has handed out this season is the Texas State women's basketball single-season record, topping the mark set by Borton (161) during the 1989-90 campaign. Finally, Deer sits in the fifth spot for career steals with 179.
Leavitt for Three
•
Toshua Leavitt holds nearly every Texas State 3-point record possible, including: makes and attempts in a game, season and career.
• The first record she toppled was 3-point field goals made in a single game. She connected on 10 3-point field goals in the loss to Coastal Carolina on Dec. 31, 2017 and again in the win over Georgia State on Jan. 27, 2018. Her record setting performances matched Mari Sanchez's Sun Belt Conference record, who made 10 3-pointers on Feb. 23, 2003. She is the only NCAA women's basketball player to make at least 10 3-point attempts in multiple games this season.
• Against ULM on Jan. 18, 2018, she moved ahead of Sarah Wagner (1996-2000) for most made 3-pointers in a career. As a junior, Leavitt has buried 242 career 3-pointers, the only TXST player on the men's or women's side to make at least 200 triples as a Bobcat.
• Leavitt has torched the nets for 125 made 3-pointers this season, establishing a new program record, besting Joyce Ekworomadu's mark of 82 triples during the 2007-08 season. Make no. 116 placed her atop the single-season Sun Belt boards for made 3-pointers, besting the 115 made 3-points set by Kortni Jones (Middle Tennessee) during the 2011-12 season.
• The junior guard can now shift her aim towards the single-season NCAA record held by Brianna Butler. The Syracuse graduate connected on 129 triples during the 2015-16 season to establish the record.
• Through 27 games, Leavitt is knocking down 4.63 triples per contest, which leads the NCAA and is on pace to top the NCAA record set by Alabama State's Lisa McMullen during the 1990-91 campaign.
For all things Texas State women's basketball, be sure to follow the team on
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter.
#AllForTXST
