TROY, Ala. — Less than 48 hours after picking up a 12-point win at Georgia Southern, the Texas State women's basketball program attempted to carry its winning ways over to the Yellowhammer State, but the Sun Belt Conference's preseason favorites Troy Trojans held off a late rally from the Bobcats to win on their home court, 79-63.
Despite the outcome,
Da'Nasia Hood — in just her second game back after missing four contests — was credited with her third double-double on the season and first since Dec. 3, 2022 as the fifth-year senior finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Hood extended her consecutive games played with double-figure points to nine straight dating back to a career-high 33 points against South Alabama on March 2, 2022. Her 12 rebounds were the second most in a single game this season after pulling down 15 at UTEP on Nov. 19.
Tianna Eaton, the Bobcats' sixth-year senior guard used an eight-point fourth quarter to push her scoring total to double figures (10) for the second consecutive game, marking the first time in her Texas State career with 10-or-more points in back-to-back Sun Belt Conference games after having 12 at Georgia Southern two nights ago.
Ja'Kayla Bowie (10) and
Sierra Dickson (10) joined Hood and Eaton with 10-or-more points on the afternoon, which gave the Bobcats back-to-back games with four-or-more student-athletes scoring 10-plus points after five accomplished the feat on Thursday, Dec. 29 at Georgia Southern. Texas State nearly had six total student-athletes reach the feat, but
Kennedy Taylor (8) and
Taelour Pruitt (8) fell just two points shy.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"(Our turnover total) is really upsetting to see, because it gave (Troy) an opportunity to score. The other piece of it is they started a new player (Janeen Camp) and she came in and had a double-double on us. I'm, specifically, upset with the fact we let her come in and get seven offensive rebounds. Then, when you talk about halftime adjustments, one of the main things we talked about was playing with more poise and take care of the basketball. But we struggled doing that during the second half against a great team on their floor. For a long time, we were stuck at (a) 10 (point deficit), stuck at 10, stuck at 10. We struggled chipping away, because we either turned the basketball over or put (Troy) at the free throw line. We have to get that turned around, if we want to be a championship-winning team."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTERS
- 1st | Troy 20, Texas State 17
- 2nd | Troy 38, Texas State 30
- 3rd | Troy 55, Texas State 45
- 4th | Troy 79, Texas State 63
MATCH NOTES
- Texas State closes out the month of December with five wins in seven games, the most by a Bobcat women's basketball team under head coach Zenarae Antoine and the most in program history since the 1993-94 squad won six under head coach Linda Sharp.
- By finishing with 40 rebounds Saturday afternoon, the Texas State women's basketball program has now brought down 40-or-more rebounds in three straight games, marking the first time the Bobcats have accomplished that since doing so in four straight contests from Jan. 15, 2022 to Jan. 27, 2022.
- When she connected on a second-quarter 3-point attempt, first-year Bobcat Taelour Pruitt extended her streak of consecutive games played as a member of the Texas State women's basketball program with at least two points to 13 in a row.
- Saturday afternoon's game marked the sixth time this season Zenarae Antoine's team has finished a contest shooting 80.0 percent or higher from the free throw line as the Bobcats connected on 11 of 13 free throw attempts for an 84.6 percentage.
- It also marked the first time this season Texas State has finished a game shooting 80 percent or higher from the free throw line in back-to-back games after shooting 80 percent at Georgia Southern two nights ago.
- By finishing with 10 points on the afternoon, Sierra Dickson recorded double-digit points in a game for the first time since netting 13 against Little Rock on Feb. 26, 2022.
UP NEXT
- After opening up Sun Belt Conference play with back-to-back road games, Texas State (9-4, 1-1) will return to San Marcos for four straight home conference games starting with App State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5.
- Louisiana (Jan. 7), Georgia State (Jan. 12) and Arkansas State (Jan. 14) will follow the Bobcats' matchup against the Mountaineers.
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.
