PENSACOLA, Fla. — Everyone who watched Texas State's 80-66 win over South Alabama on Wednesday in the first round of the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center knew who the star of the game was:
Da'Nasia Hood.
Hood, who became the first student-athlete in program history to be named to the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team in back-to-back seasons earlier this week, scored a career-high 33 points on 58.3 percent shooting. Hood also recorded her eight double-double on the season after bringing down 13 rebounds against the Jaguars.
By knocking down a jumper shot with 4:46 remaining in the game, not only did Hood extend the Texas State lead to nine and force a South Alabama timeout, the senior guard also broke her teammate
Kennedy Taylor's program record for most points in a Sun Belt Conference game. In last season's quarterfinal matchup against Troy, Taylor scored a career-high 28 points and surpassed Toshua Leavitt's mark of 24.
Hood's eight double-doubles on the season are the third most by a student-athlete in the conference while no one has scored 30-or-more points in a game as many times as she has (3).
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"One of the things I'm most proud of is how the defense found a way to make stops when we needed them. Then we found the nooks and crannies we needed to to be able to score on the other end and I thought that was exciting. I'm really thankful our team has the opportunity to advance and what a way to do that tonight with
Da'Nasia Hood hitting a career high and
Kennedy Taylor scoring 1,000 points. I'm really proud of everyone."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTER
- 1st | Texas State 18, South Alabama 16
- 2nd | Texas State 39, South Alabama 28
- 3rd | Texas State 60, South Alabama 52
- 4th | Texas State 80, South Alabama 66
GAME NOTES
- With her first shot attempt in the second quarter, Texas State senior guard Kennedy Taylor connected on a 3-point basket and became the 21st member of the Bobcat program to eclipse the 1,000-career point threshold. Taylor joins Da'Nasia Hood and Jo'Nah Johnson as the only active women's basketball student-athletes to surpass 1,000 career collegiate points.
- For the third time in the last five seasons, the Texas State women's basketball program earned a victory in its conference tournament-opening game. The Bobcats earned a 94-61 win over Georgia Southern last season and then knocked off Coastal Carolina, 78-69, during the 2017-18 season.
- With her career-high 33-point performance Wednesday night, Texas State senior forward Da'Nasia Hood passed Taeler Deer (2014-18) for 10th on the program's career list. Hood will enter Friday night's contest having scored 1,401 points throughout her Bobcat playing career.
- Wednesday night's win marked the first-ever victory for Texas State as the sixth seed in the Sun Belt Conference's postseason tournament. The only other time the Bobcats were the sixth-seeded team in the conference tournament was in 2019, when they lost, 68-67, to South Alabama.
UP NEXT
- With the win, Texas State (15-13) will advance to the quarterfinal round to face third-seeded Louisiana. Tip-off is slated for Friday, March 4 at 5 p.m. CT at the Pensacola Bay Center. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
- 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.
