SAN MARCOS, TX — Coming off the bench for the first time in her Texas State women's basketball career,
Jo'Nah Johnson provided the Bobcats with the proper utensils to serve up a helping of Chanticleer to their fans with a 64-59 victory Saturday night.
Johnson, who missed Texas State's two-game swing through Arkansas last week, returned to action with a big splash as the graduate student connected on a career-high five 3-point baskets en route to scoring a game-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 22 minutes.
Of all Johnson's 3-pointers on the afternoon, though, none was bigger than her final one midway through the fourth quarter.
With 4:55 remaining in the contest, Aja Blount just cut the Bobcat lead to 53-50 on a second-chance jump.
Jaeda Reed's ensuring layup was missed. So, with the Chanticleers looking to potentially tie the game, Johnson stole the ball from Kalaya Buggs. She then connected on a second-chance 3-point attempt after
Ja'Kayla Bowie collected an offensive rebound.
The sequence pushed the Texas State lead to 56-50 and didn't allow Coastal Carolina (12-7, 2-6) to get to within one possession until 18 seconds remained in the contest.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"I'm just so happy that we were able to get a monkey off our backs playing here at home in conference games. I think everyone saw the determination and drive within all of these young women today to be a better team, because this was an excellent team game. If you were to tell me that
Da'Nasia Hood, the league's leading scorer in conference play, wouldn't break double figures and
Sierra Dickson shot 1 for 10 and we'd still win a basketball game, that must mean we had a lot of other positive things happen for us and that's exactly what happened this afternoon."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTER
- 1st | Texas State 19, Coastal Carolina 14
- 2nd | Texas State 35, Coastal Carolina 28
- 3rd | Texas State 49, Coastal Carolina 43
- 4th | Texas State 64, Coastal Carolina 59
GAME NOTES
- For the third time against a conference opponent — and fourth time overall this season — Texas State forward Lauryn Thompson finished a game with double-digit rebounds. Saturday afternoon's 10 rebounds marked the first time Thompson has accomplished the feat since Jan. 20, 2022 at UTA. She also had 10 boards against Troy on Jan. 6, 2022.
- Saturday's win over Coastal Carolina in San Marcos marked the first win for Texas State over the Chanticleers at home since Jan. 10, 2019, when TXST won 73-58.
- With the win over Coastal Carolina, head coach Zenarae Antoine has now won 160 career games at the helm of the Texas State women's basketball program. Antoine, in her 11th season, is now just 14 wins shy of tying Suzanne Fox (1997-11) as the program's all-time winningest head coach.
- Saturday's contest marked not only the first career start in a home Sun Belt Conference contest for sophomore guard Sierra Dickson but also the first start inside Strahan Arena regardless of opponent.
UP NEXT
- Texas State (11-11, 6-4) will look to continue its three-game winning streak when the Bobcats play host to Louisiana on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will, then, turn around to play ULM inside Strahan Arena, too, on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m.
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TXStateWBB on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
