SAN MARCOS, TX — Following last Friday's loss to Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, the Texas State women's basketball program had one thing on its mind: bounce back. And bounced back the Bobcats did in their 67-61 win over Houston Christian.
Behind another stellar shooting performance from the free throw line,
Lauryn Thompson put the Bobcats on her back and willed the program to its seventh win on the season as the Mansfield native finished with a season-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting. She also knocked down all nine of her free throw attempts that helped Texas State finish 24 of 25 from the free throw line.
Thompson's scoring output only got stronger as the evening progressed.
After finishing the first quarter — one which saw six different Bobcat women's basketball student-athletes score at least two points — with two points, Thompson went on to lead her team in scoring in each of the remaining three. In the second, Thompson finished with seven points in just eight minutes of game action, before adding six to her total coming out of halftime.
But it was the game's final 10-minute segment that really etched Thompson's name all over the outcome.
With Texas State leading by only one entering the fourth quarter, the fourth-year Bobcat went on to score eight points and was instrumental in stopping a late rally by the Huskies when she converted all four of her free throw attempts over a minute-and-a-half stretch in the closing moments Tuesday evening.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"I'm just so proud of (
Lauryn Thompson) and her efforts tonight. I was getting on her — most of the game, to be honest — regarding defense and her moving to the ball, but at the same time was also celebrating — and hopefully she could hear me — all those times she was able to score inside. Our forward group are really doing an excellent job right now with scoring points in the paint. We had 24 points in the paint at halftime. They stayed diligent and at the same time, we weren't forcing the ball inside. We did a good job of moving the ball around. I thought the guards did a great job off the bounce tonight as well."
FROM FORWARD LAURYN THOMPSON
"My teammates just trusted me in the post tonight, so I just kept working hard down there. And they saw that, so they just feeding me, and I had to finish for them. We definitely needed to show ourselves that we could take hits and bounce back. 'Bounce Back' was our motto coming into this game, so we did exactly that. We were all focused coming in and it ultimately paid off."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTERS
- 1st | Texas State 20, Houston Christian 15
- 2nd | Texas State 39, Houston Christian 35
- 3rd | Texas State 50, Houston Christian 49
- 4th | Texas State 67, Houston Christian 61
MATCH NOTES
- With her seven points Tuesday afternoon, fifth-year senior Kennedy Taylor inched closer to passing Erin Peoples (2012-17) for fourteenth on the program's career scoring list.
- Taylor will enter Thursday afternoon's game against UNT Dallas with 1,118 career points. Peoples finished her career with 1,122.
- Texas State's 36 points in the paint against the Huskies on Tuesday were tied for the most by the Bobcats against a Division I opponent.
- Texas State also had 36 at Sam Houston on Nov. 12, 2022.
- Last month, Texas State had 56 points in the paint against Howard Payne and then finished with 44 against Arlington Baptist.
- With the win, Texas State women's basketball head coach Zenarae Antoine is now just four wins away from passing Suzanne Fox (1997-11) to become the program's all-time winningest head coach.
- Fox concluded her Bobcat coaching career with 174 victories. Antoine will enter Thursday afternoon's game against UNT Dallas with 171.
- By finishing Tuesday's game with a 96.0 percentage (24-25) from the free throw line, it marked the second time this season the Texas State women's basketball program has finished a game with a free throw percentage higher than 90 with 20-or-more attempts.
- The Bobcats connected on 19-of-20 attempts for a 95.0 percentage in a 74-62 win over Loyola Marymount (CA) on Dec. 3, 2022.
- Tuesday's game marked the second consecutive game that Texas State finished with exactly 27 defensive rebounds.
- It marks the first time the Bobcats have had exactly the same number of defensive rebounds in consecutive games since having 24 at San Diego on Dec. 21, 2021, and then 24 at ULM on Jan. 1, 2022.
UP NEXT
- Texas State (7-3) will conclude its current six-game homestand on Thursday, Dec. 22, when the Bobcats play UNT Dallas at 1 p.m. CT.
- The Trailblazing are coming off an 84-44 exhibition loss at Sam Houston on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
- Even though Thursday afternoon's game against the Bobcats will count as an exhibition game, too, UNT Dallas has an 8-2, 6-2 record through 10 games this year.
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.
