Box Score WACO, Texas — A Texas State women's basketball program picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt Conference before the 2021-22 season started showed it might've been picked too lower as the Bobcats pushed No. 7 Baylor to the brink before ultimately falling 77-70 Tuesday night.
Texas State (0-1) entered the second quarter trailing Baylor 22-7 but went on to outscore the Bears 63-55 in quarters two through four. The Bobcats overcame a free throw differential of 22 (21-30 to 7-8) to cut their deficit to single digits — for the first time in the game — when
Da'Nasia Hood sank a second-chance 3-point from the left wing with 2:42 remaining in the game.
After Jordan Lewis split a pair of free throws 14 seconds later, Hood connected on another shot from behind the 3-point arc to get the Bobcats to within six at 73-67 with 2:17 left to play. Baylor (1-0) responded with a quick 4-0 scoring run over the next 90 seconds to push its lead back to 10.
First-year Bobcat
Jo'Nah Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to cut the Texas State deficit to seven. Jordan Lewis, with 30 seconds left, missed two free throws and a jumper as Baylor milked the remaining time on the clock.
After Hood collected her sixth rebound on the night on a Lewis miss, Johnson attempted a last-second 3-pointer to cut the deficit, again, but it rimmed out.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"I think the first quarter had quite a bit of nerves, for sure. The nerves, though, weren't necessarily because of who they were playing and where they were playing. It was more of a result of it being our first game; it was our first live-game scenario. Then, once they settled in, they started to trust their training, trust their scout, and saw opportunities or saw where we were struggled. They, then, understood that this was something that could potentially be done, and they got really excited and made those adjustments."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTER
- 1st | Baylor 22, Texas State 7
- 2nd | Baylor 38, Texas State 24
- 3rd | Baylor 62, Texas State 47
- 4th | Baylor 77, Texas State 70
MATCH NOTES
- In her first game action since March 10, 2020, at UTA, Jaeda Reed finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, brought down five rebounds, and was credited with one assist in 16 minutes off the bench.
- In her first game as a Texas State Bobcat, after transferring from Texas Tech during the offseason, Jo'Nah Johnson scored 11 points, with nine coming from behind the 3-point arc, dished out five assisted and collected two rebounds in 34 minutes after drawing a starting assignment.
- With her nine-assist performance against Baylor, Texas State senior point guard Kennedy Taylor now has 398 career assists. Two more would make Taylor just the third student-athlete in program history to be credited with 400-or-more career assists. Taylor will enter Sunday's game 31 assists shy of tying Taeler Deer (2014-18) for second on the program's career assist list.
- The seven-point deficit for Texas State was the smallest margin in a loss to Baylor since dropping an 86-84 contest in double overtime on Dec. 13, 1986.
UP NEXT
- Texas State will return to the court on Sunday, Nov. 14 against Huston Tillotson at 2 PM CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TXStateWBB on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
