SAN MARCOS, TX — After splitting a pair of games in Louisiana last week, the Texas State women's basketball program returns to the court on Thursday, Jan. 6, when the Bobcats play host to the Troy Trojans. 

Brant Freeman and Suzanne Fox will have the call on ESPN+, while Clint Shields will describe the action on KTSW 89.9 FM. 

LOOKING AT THE BOBCATS

Texas State senior guard Kennedy Taylor will enter Thursday night's contest against Troy as the Sun Belt Conference's active leader in assists per game with a 4.92 career mark. Taylor's career 4.92 assists per game average ranks sixth in Division I women's basketball. 

Texas State senior guard Kennedy Taylor enters this week's conference game against the Troy Trojans with the 12th-most career assists among active Division I women's basketball student-athletes at 472. The 5-foot-3 guard is the shortest student-athlete ranked among the top 30. Troy's Jasmine Robinson is the closest Sun Belt student-athlete to Taylor as the 5-foot-6 guard has been credited with 451 throughout her Trojans playing career.

Texas State senior forward Da'Nasia Hood comes into Thursday night's conference game one of just three student-athletes in the Sun Belt Conference ranked in the top seven in both points and rebounds per game. Hood, a San Antonio native, is averaging 13.3 points and 6.8 rebounds a game following her 19-point, 9-rebound and 20-point, 9-rebound performances in Texas State's two-game swing through the state of Louisiana to open Sun Belt Conference play this season. 

Texas State senior guard Kennedy Taylor is the only student-athlete in the Sun Belt Conference to be ranked in the top four in both assists per game (5.9) and steals per game (2.4). 

SCOUTING THE TROJANS

Troy's Felmas Koranga enters Thursday night's contest as the Sun Belt Conference's leader in double-doubles with six so far this season. The 6-foot-1 junior forward from Nakuru, Kenya by way of Tyler (TX) Junior College was named the league's newcomer of the year and All-Sun Belt Second Team selection during her first season as a Trojan in 2020-21. Koranga is currently the conference's leader in total rebounds (145) and rebounds per game (9.7). 

While the Trojans crash the glass, Tiyah Johnson has provided Troy (10-5, 1-0) with a scoring threat from outside the 3-point arc. Johnson, a senior from Phenix City, Ala., and All-Sun Belt Third Team selection a season ago, is ranked atop the conference in 3-pointers made (27) and 3-point field goals per game (1.80). She's only four attempted 3-pointers shy of tying Arkansas State's Jade Upshaw for the most in the league. 

Since the last time it dropped back-to-back Sun Belt Conference games on Saturday, Feb. 2 and Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, Troy has gone on to win 38 of its last 44 regular-season conference games. 

SERIES HISTORY

Thursday night's contest between Texas State and Troy will mark just the 13th all-time meeting between the two programs with the Trojans holding a 7-5 lead. Texas State last beat Troy on Jan. 16, 2018, when the Bobcats won 83-75 in San Marcos. 

Thursday night's game will mark the first time Texas State has played Troy in San Marcos since Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, when the Trojans won 82-63. 

The last time the two women's basketball programs met on the hardwood, Troy outlasted Texas State, 103-90, in overtime of the quarterfinals of the 2020-21 Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday, March 6, 2021. In that game, both Kennedy Taylor and Ja'Kayla Bowie went for career highs with 28 and 23 points, respectively. 

REMINDER: Saturday's conference matchup between Texas State and South Alabama has been canceled. 

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