LAFAYETTE, La. — The Texas State University women's basketball regular season concluded with a 70-64 loss at Louisiana on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats' attention now turns to the Sun Belt Conference postseason tournament, which begins on Tuesday, March 10.

"I will tell the team that it's clearly a new season now and that's what all coaches enjoy saying," said Texas State women's basketball head coach Zenarae Antoine. "Everyone is back to 0-0 now in this third opportunity that we have to make a run for a championship.

"I think one of the things that's beneficial for us is that we aren't going to be playing an unfamiliar team that we are expected to match up with. We'll be seeing them for a third time and I think what you do is you go back and take a look and evaluate where you are now then come up with a great game plan to put our student-athletes in the best position to make this run."

Texas State (13-16, 6-12) came into Saturday's game at Louisiana (17-12, 10-8) with no clear sense of an opponent for Tuesday's first-round matchup, so the Bobcats entered the Canjundome with aspirations of spoiling the Ragin' Cajuns' hopes of hosting the first two days of the conference tournament.

The Bobcats, winners of their last three in a row and five of six, came out and led for nearly half of the game's opening 10-minute period as a Chelsea Johnson free throw gave Texas State a 7-6 lead with 5:37 remaining in the quarter. The Bobcats extended their lead to three on multiple occasions, but a Kimberly Burton 3-point basket gave Louisiana the lead, again, with 1:02 left to play in the period. Jaeda Reed tied the game with a layup 30 seconds later, but Burton sank another jumper to give the Ragin' Cajun a 15-13 lead after the first quarter.

The Louisiana lead grew to four in the opening minute, but Texas State tied the game at 19-19 when Brooke Holle connected on a jumper with 6:24 left before halftime. However, Jasmine Thomas hit a jumper in the paint to give ULL a lead it did not surrender the rest of the quarter despite Texas State getting as close as one point with 3:55 to play.

Louisiana responded to that with a 13-4 run to take a 37-27 advantage into halftime.

"I really felt like that energy we need in the second quarter was the difference," Antoine said. "We needed to get some stops and didn't and that got us behind. But, with that being said, the team did an excellent job of coming out from halftime and really showing up and giving us an opportunity."

Texas State opened the third quarter on 4-0 run, before Louisiana pushed its lead back to 10 with 7:02 left in the quarter. A quick 7-0 run sparked by five points from Da'Nasia Hood turned it into a three-point game. Even as the Ragin' Cajun made it a seven-point game with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter, Texas State fought back and tied it on a Johnson layup with 10 seconds left. However, Burton hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to push Louisiana back ahead.

Hood pushed Texas State back ahead in the opening minute and a half of the fourth with back-to-back layups. Bailey Holle, after Louisiana took a one-point lead, pushed the Bobcats back ahead with a layup.

However, Brandi Williams, 30 seconds later, sank a jumper before Brandi Williams connected on a 3-pointer to make it a four-point deficit for the Bobcats. It was a lead Louisiana never relinquished throughout the remaining six minutes of the game.

With the 2019-20 regular season now complete, the Texas State women's basketball squad now turns its attention to the Sun Belt Conference postseason tournament.