JONESBORO, Ark. — Classes don't normally occur on Saturday afternoons, but Texas State head coach
Zenarae Antoine gave
Ja'Kayla Bowie an assignment during the Bobcats' 75-69 win at Arkansas State.
And she understood it.
Bowie responded to the Bobcats' 11-year head coach's challenge with her first career double-double as the senior guard finished with a season-high 19 points, a career-high 11 rebounds, career-high five assists, two steals and a block in 38 minutes of game action. The Tyler, Texas native joins
Kennedy Taylor,
Lauryn Thompson,
Da'Nasia Hood and
Gabby Standifer as the fifth Bobcat women's basketball student-athlete to be credited with a double-double this season.
Bowie wasted little time getting the point portion of the double-double as she scored a team-high nine first-quarter points on 4-of-4 shooting. She followed that up with seven more in the second quarter to have a season-high 16 by halftime. She became more active on the glass during the second half as she collected a team-high seven second-half rebounds while the Red Wolves shot only 25.0 percent from the field during the third and fourth quarters.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"It was just a tremendous effort by Ja'Kayla (Bowie). I was watching film and doing self-scouting and the one thing I've been waiting is for Ja'Kayla to have a breakout game. After the very first timeout we had (today), which was very early, I said, 'Ja'Kayla, let it loose. Get after it. Get downhill. Take it to the rim.' And she kind of gave me a look and I guess she understood the assignment. I'm really proud of that effort and not just the scoring piece, but she got
a lot of defensive rebounds, too."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTER
- 1st | Arkansas State 29, Texas State 24
- 2nd | Texas State 47, Arkansas State 43
- 3rd | Texas State 63, Arkansas State 57
- 4th | Texas State 75, Arkansas State 69
GAME NOTES
- The Texas State defense clamped down on the conference's top-scoring offense in league play as the Bobcats held Arkansas State to its second-lowest shooting percentage (35.7) against a conference foe this season. On Jan. 20, 2020, South Alabama held the Red Wolves to a 30.3 clip from the field.
- For the first time this season, the Texas State offense finished with five student-athletes in double figures against a Sun Belt Conference opponent: Ja'Kayla Bowie (19), Da'Nasia Hood (14), Kennedy Taylor (13), Jaeda Reed (12) and Sierra Dickson (10). It's the first time the Bobcats have accomplished said feat since Feb. 26, 2021 in an 85-62 win at ULM.
- For the third consecutive game and sixth time in nine conference games this season, Texas State senior guard Kennedy Taylor spent the entire game on the court and was not subbed out once.
- The Texas State defense held Arkansas State, which shot 62.5 percent during the game's first quarter, without a field goal throughout the final 6:12 of Saturday afternoon's contest.
UP NEXT
- After winning both legs of the Arkansas road trip this week, Texas State (10-11, 5-4) will wait seven days to play, again, as the Bobcats won't play the normal Thursday night conference game during the forthcoming week. Texas State will, instead, wait until next Saturday, Feb. 5 to play Coastal Carolina as part a doubleheader with the Bobcats men's basketball team.
- 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.
