SAN MARCOS, TX — Rather it be the play of her fifth-year point guard
Kennedy Taylor. Her preseason all-conference selection
Da'Nasia Hood. First-year Bobcat
Taelour Pruitt. Or even true freshman
Kennedy Claybrooks.
Texas State women's basketball head coach
Zenarae Antoine walked off the court Monday night following her team's 104-35 win over Howard Payne knowing she could dive into the final box score and be overcome with positive thought.
Maybe it started when fifth-year senior
Tianna Eaton scored 12 first-quarter points as the Bobcats led by 13 after the first 10-minute period. In retrospect, the California native's offensive production was the same as the entire Howard Payne team at the time.
From there, maybe it was the Texas State defense that held the Yellow Jackets to only three points during the game's second stanza. Throughout the entire second quarter, the Bobcats allowed Howard Payne to score make only one of 15 field goal attempts and zero of its six 3-point attempts, too.
Maybe Antoine was pleased with her team's 30-point offensive outburst coming out of the locker rooms at halftime. By quarter's end, Texas State had ballooned a 34-point lead to a 56-point difference following a 3-pointer by Pruitt with 38 seconds remaining in the quarter. The third quarter also provided an opportunity for Taylor to come alive and connect both behind the 3-point arc and with her teammates en route to finishing with a 12-point, 12-assist double-double.
During the fourth quarter, the play of bench players factored into Antoine's post-game mood.
Morgan Hill, in her first action as a Bobcat, finished with seven points and five rebounds in just nine minutes. Fellow post player
Nicole Leff added seven points and a career-high eight rebounds. Even Claybrooks, in her first career collegiate women's basketball game, found productivity on both ends as the Cordova, Tenn., native finished with four points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 13 minutes.
Regardless of the
exact reason, it was a good night to be a Bobcat.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"It's nice to be able to dust off the cobwebs in this opening game, for sure. Being able to play in two closed scrimmages is great, but you never, when the lights turn on, what we are going to look like. And the nice thing was we were able to run everyone out there tonight to give them an opportunity to play. We were also able to take a look at several things that are going to be really important to us moving forward. I think, overall, in this game, there were some things I was expecting us to be able to do, but then there were also stretches when we didn't do some things well. But we bounced back from those stretches and did a much better job. Overall, I'm pleased with this start."
FROM GUARD KENNEDY TAYLOR
"I thought we did a great job of staying aggressive on the defensive end all night. The coaches have been talking about defense ever since we finished last season, so I think we stayed aggressive and did a lot of communicating. On the flip side, though, I believe there's always room for improvement on the defensive end of the court, especially our rebounding. We've been really focusing on boxing out, finding someone to attach to and getting the rebound."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTERS
- 1st | Texas State 25, Howard Payne 12
- 2nd | Texas State 49, Howard Payne 15
- 3rd | Texas State 79, Howard Payne 23
- 4th | Texas State 104, Howard Payne 35
MATCH NOTES
- The 104 points scored by Texas State Monday night were the most by a Bobcat team since scoring 105 in a 105-37 win over Texas College on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021.
- The three points allowed to Howard Payne during the second quarter were the fewest points allowed by a Bobcat defense since Texas State held Arlington Baptist scoreless during the fourth quarter of a 93-23 win on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021.
- Monday night's game against Howard Payne marked the 100th career collegiate basketball game for fifth-year senior Ja'Kayla Bowie. She joins Kennedy Taylor (112), Da'Nasia Hood (107) and Taelour Pruitt (106) as the only active Bobcat student-athletes to reach the milestone.
- With her four steals on the night, fifth-year senior Kennedy Taylor tied Erin Peoples (2012-17) for third place on the program's career steals list.
- By finishing with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting Monday night, Da'Nasia Hood has now scored 20-or-more points in 24 career games played.
UP NEXT
- After earning a victory in its first home game of the season, Texas State (1-0) will now turn its attention to Sam Houston, where the Bobcats play on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. The Bearkats will open their 2022-23 regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 8, when they travel to Auburn, Ala., to play the Tigers.
FOLLOW US
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TXStateWBB on Twitter and Instagram. General athletic news can also be at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
