SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women's basketball team (14-15, 9-8 Sun Belt) took care of business against a short-handed South Alabama (19-8, 8-8 Sun Belt) team by a final score of 77-45. The victory keeps the Bobcats in play for either the fifth or sixth seed and first-round bye that comes with the seed in the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Championship.

"Our team did a great job on the defensive end to make it difficult for them to get many easy looks," head coach Zenarae Antoine said. "We limited easy touches down in the post, while always avoiding the comfortable looks from the 3-point line that we gave up against Troy."

Senior guard Toshua Leavitt caught fire from behind the 3-point line and finished with a game-high 20 points. She buried 6-of-9 attempts from deep and dished out five assists. Freshman center Jaeda Reed played her best game as a Bobcat, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and pulling down eight rebounds. Freshman forward Da'Nasia Hood scored 11 points in 19 minutes of run off the bench. Texas State has registered at least three double-figure scorers in eight-straight games.

As a team, Texas State dominated the glass. South Alabama, one of the Sun Belt Conference's elite rebounding groups, grabbed only 33 rebounds in the loss. The Bobcats ripped down 43 boards, including 10 from junior forward Jazza Johns.

Sophomore center Antoinette Lewis paced the Jaguars on the offensive end of the floor with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She was the only USA player to record double-digit points.

After taking a 31-27 lead into the halftime break, Texas State blitzed South Alabama in both the third and fourth quarters. The Bobcats outscored the Jaguars, 46-18, over the final 20 minutes of play.

Hood ignited an 11-0 run with back-to-back jumpers in the middle of the third quarter. Both buckets came off pick-and-pop assists from freshman point guard Kennedy Taylor. Leavitt drained a pair of deep 3-pointers, including a heat-check from nearly 30-feet out, to force USA into a timeout.

From the 1:09 mark in the third quarter until the 6:15 mark in the fourth frame, Texas State went on another extended run to put the game away. This run, 15-0, was an inside-out effort. TXST found buckets from three different forwards in the paint and three separate players from behind the arc during the run to bury South Alabama.

Texas State led by as many as 33 points late in the fourth quarter before the game settled at the final of 77-45.

Up next, Texas State will close out the 2018-19 regular season with a clash against in-state rival UT Arlington on March 9. The game will be aired on ESPN+ and will tip at 2 p.m. from Strahan Arena. The Bobcats will honor the senior class following the game as part of the Senior Day festivities.

For all things Texas State women's basketball, be sure to follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.