CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Lauryn Thompson let out a year's worth of built-up anticipation and so much more as Texas State knocked off Texas A&M – Corpus Christi in come-from-behind fashion, 56-46, Wednesday night. 

Just three days since setting a then-career high in rebounds at Oklahoma — and two days following her birthday — Thompson turned in a second consecutive career performance as the VCU transfer was credited with her first career double-double with a 12-point, 12-rebound performance in a career-high 32 minutes against the Islanders. 

"I think what the difference tonight was is that Lauryn puts a lot of pressure on herself to do better and she focused primary on defense and just let the rest come to herself," said Texas State women's basketball head coach Zenarae Antoine. "I think the team did a better job tonight of getting her the basketball in more comfortable positions, which allowed her to score the way she wants to. She's always been really good for us on the glass, so she's definitely been deserving of the starts based off her play defensively alone." 

Thompson, who was required to sit out the entire 2019-20 season due to NCAA transfer rules, wasted very little time working on her stat line as she collected her first rebound — an offensive rebound — just over 1:20 into the first quarter. She swiped an errant pass attempt seconds later, before collecting another rebound and knocking down a jumper in the paint. 

From there, the Islanders couldn't contain the 6-foot-1 post-player the rest of the night as by halftime, Thompson had brought down six rebounds to go with four points despite Texas A&M – Corpus Christi holding a 22-21 halftime lead. 

Thompson surpassed the double-digit point plateau when she converted a layup attempt to give Texas State a 30-29 lead — its first lead since Gabby Standifer converted an and-one opportunity to make it 21-20, Bobcats, with 3:05 left before halftime — at the 3:40 mark of the third. The flood gates opened for the TXST offense following Thompson's basket as the Bobcats went on a 10-2 third-quarter run sparked by back-to-back Da'Nasia Hood 3-point baskets in a 30-second span to close out the third. 

"I'm really proud of the way our team bounced back from the Oklahoma game," Antoine said. "We were right there in the Oklahoma game, but then we came out in the third quarter and really struggled. I challenged the team at the beginning of this game to understand how hard (Texas A&M – Corpus Christi) will fight, because this is a championship program and understand what it'll take to win. We knew from the beginning of the game that it was going to be a fight."

The Texas State scoring run carried over into the fourth quarter as Ja'Kayla Bowie and Kennedy Taylor, who matched Hood with a team-high 14 points to go along with a game-high eight assists on the evening, combined to extend the Bobcat lead by four. AMCC attempted to stop the run, but Standifer swished another 3-point then Taylor made another free throw to give TXST a 48-33 lead.

Taylor gave Texas State its largest lead of the game at 56-40 with 1:47 remaining in the game after the junior point guard swished two free throw attempts. The Islanders cut their deficit to 10 with 10 seconds left, but the Bobcats ran out the remainder of the clock on the following possession. 

Texas State (2-2) will return to action inside Strahan Arena for the first time since Feb. 29, 2020 when the Bobcats host Lamar on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 4 p.m.