SAN MARCOS, Texas – Head Coach
Zenarae Antoine preaches it every day in the gym: defense leads to offense. That's what you saw in the Bobcats 74-48 win over Bowling Green. With seven players contributing five or more points and four of the five members of the starting five having double-digit points, offense was coming from everywhere in the team's second win of the year.
Through the opening quarter the two sides were evenly matched. With near identical shooting percentages, it came down to the Bobcats ability to draw fouls. It ended up being the four more free throws the Bobcats scored in the opening quarter that was the only difference between the two sides in the opening 10 minutes. The Bobcats going 10-15 from the line in the opening quarter, in comparison to Bowling Greens 6-11, gave the Bobcats a 21-17 lead in the first.
The second quarter was when the Bobcat defense started showing out. After holding the Falcons to just nine points and limiting them to just ten shots, the Bobcats were able to put some space between them and the Falcons. Heading to the halftime break the Bobcats held a 35-26 lead.
Timia Jefferson came alive through the third quarter. Having eight of the Bobcats 19 points, her showing made a difference in the game. By the end of the fourth quarter the Bobcats held Bowling Green to shooting 30.8% from the field and were able to put some space between the two sides, holding a 54-28 lead headed into the final quarter of play. The quarter was capped off by a buzzer-beater half-court three pointer by
Ja'Niah Henson, who finished the night on 18 points.
The Bobcats offense hit its stride through the final 10 minutes of play. Shooting 8-17 and 3-4 from beyond the arc, the 'Cats went to work to put an exclamation mark on the game. Highlighted by five-point quarters from Henson and
Gara Beth Self, the Bobcats outscored the Falcons 20-10 in the final quarter to win the game 74-48.
FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE: "What a huge win for our program today. Their coach is an excellent coach, I've got a lot of respect for what [Bowling Green does.] They've got a great staff, so I know they were well prepared. There are so many areas that I tip my hat off to them… but what I do lean back on is that we have a lot of young women who have collegiate D1 experience and that's what you saw kick in today. It was just understanding that this is what it feels like to compete and how great does this feel. And to fail and to come back together, that synergy is something we've been looking forward to within our team. I'm not going to say we're in a place where we've arrived, but we were able to get it done today and I'm really proud of that in a lot of different ways."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY QUARTER
1st | Texas State 21, Bowling Green 17
2nd | Texas State 35, Bowling Green 26
3rd | Texas State 54, Bowling Green 38
4th | Texas State 74, Bowling Green 48
GAME NOTES
- The Bobcats are starting the season 2-0 with a roster of eight newcomers and four returners.
- There were four of the Bobcats start five who ended the night with 10+ points. The leading scorer on the night was Ja'Niah Henson who had 18 points while playing 28 minutes.
UP NEXT
The Bobcats will continue its four-game home stand against WAC opponent UTRGV on Nov. 17. The game will be at 5 p.m. inside Strahan Arena as part of a doubleheader Friday with Texas State men's basketball, who take on UTSA afterwards.
