SAN MARCOS, TX — Friday night's 56-47 loss for Texas State was the kind of back-and-forth action one might see on a boat sailing through rough waters.
One moment Texas State is leading the game, 10-4, after holding Texas A&M – Corpus Christi to a 6.67 shooting percentage (1-15) after 10 minutes of action. Then, the waves forced the boat to rock as the Islander defense turned the tables on the Bobcats and held the home team to only one made field goal attempt during the game's second 10-minute stanza.
As a result, Texas State's 10-4 first-quarter lead turned into a 24-16 halftime deficit. But, as true as a boat in a body of water does, momentum changed as the Bobcats rallied and began to implement halftime adjustments: the defense stepped up (Islanders made only four of 19 field goal attempts) while the offense got rolling (Bobcats put seven of their 12 field goal attempts through the net) to draw to within three after 30 minutes of game action.
The third quarter even featured the game's first tie — 31-31 following a
Lauryn Thompson layup with 1:19 remaining — since the 6:44 mark of the second quarter when
Chelsea Johnson converted the second of two free throw attempts.
However, despite the third-quarter rally and the early moments of the fourth quarter — Thompson and
Tianna Eaton cutting the Bobcat deficit to one with two made baskets at the 9:49 and 9:02 marks, respectively — Texas State only made it a one-possession game once when
Taelour Pruitt connected on a jump shot with 3:27 left to play.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"I always felt like we put ourselves in good positions throughout the game, when we had some lulls or miscues, but the important piece of what we need to do, which is finishing the play and that's something we have talked about a lot as a team over the last three weeks. When we force low-percentage shots, we have to do a better job of rebounding. We allowed a lot of offensive rebounds tonight, which prevented us from really being able to come back and then we felt a lot of pressure to score so we took some poor shots. I thought we did well with adjustments coming out of the locker room from halftime, but at the end of the day, if we don't get the defensive stops we need, it's going to be really difficult to win games."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTERS
- 1st | Texas State 10, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi 4
- 2nd | Texas A&M – Corpus Christi 24, Texas State 16
- 3rd | Texas A&M – Corpus Christi 36, Texas State 33
- 4th | Texas A&M – Corpus Christi 56, Texas State 47
MATCH NOTES
- With her five points scored Friday evening, sixth-year senior Tianna Eaton has now scored 101 points during the 2022-23 season.
- It marks the first time the California native has surpassed the 100-point mark in a single season since scoring 177 throughout the 2018-19 season as a sophomore at UC Riverside.
- Additionally, Tianna Eaton had an impact on the defensive end of the court for Texas State as the 5-foot-10 guard was credited with three blocks.
- The defensive performance matched Eaton's career best for blocks in a single game.
- The last time Eaton was credited with three blocks in a single game happened at Long Beach State on March 1, 2018, when she was a member of the UC Riverside women's basketball program.
- By finishing with 11 points Friday night, fifth-year senior guard Kennedy Taylor passed Sarah Wagner (1996-00) for 15th on the program's career scoring list.
- Taylor will enter next Tuesday afternoon's game just 12 points shy of passing Erin Peoples (2012-17) for 14th.
- With her team-leading 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Lauryn Thompson has now scored 10-or-more points in three consecutive games, marking the longest such streak for the fourth-year Bobcat since Nov. 29-Dec. 2-Dec. 5, 2021 when she scored 16 against Arlington Baptist, 14 at Houston Baptist and 11 against Texas College.
UP NEXT
- Texas State (6-3) will continue its six-game homestand throughout the month of December when the Bobcats play Houston Christian at 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
- The Huskies (5-4) are coming off a 68-43 win over St. Thomas (TX) on Saturday, Dec. 10 and won't play against until their matchup against the Bobcats in San Marcos.
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.
