SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State women's basketball opened the season with an all-hands-on deck performance against Arlington Baptist that ended with a 90-48 win. Each of the 11 Bobcats who saw time scored at least four points and 10 of the 11 had at least one rebound.

Despite having eight newcomers to the roster this season, it didn't take long for the team to settle into the game. After a 21-point first quarter, the 'Cats started were able to put some space between the visitors.

By the end of the first half the Bobcats held a 19-point lead courtesy of all the Bobcats getting involved with the scoring. After shooting 10-18 as a team in the second while holding Arlington Baptist to 5-15, the team was able to settle in and play its game. 

Coming out of the halftime break the Bobcats continued to find points in the paint. With 16 points in the third quarter and 66 points from the paint throughout the game, the game plan was working for the Bobcats as they pushed the Arlington Baptist defense. Heading into the final quarter, the Bobcats held a 69-36 lead, thanks to a big showing off the bench with 43 bench points.

Through the fourth quarter, Julia Coleman came alive. The St. Louis native lead the Bobcats in points on the night with 13, paired with nine rebounds.  The freshman had four points and four rebounds in the fourth quarter alone. Coleman's showing, paired with senior Nicole Leff's six-point quarter put an exclamation mark on the high-scoring affair for the Bobcats.

At the end of 40 minutes the Bobcats came away with the 90-48 win which included 34 points from turnovers, 66 in the paint, and 53 points from the bench.

FROM HEAD COACH ZENARAE ANTOINE
"People asked me many times leading up to tonight how I was feeling and I always say really excited. What's exciting about this team is they're so new. The challenges of being able to bring in new faces and find ways to compete in the Sun Belt Conference is exciting for me. You really want to be able to compete. You want to push yourself and your staff and our players to a place where we can see, 'can we do it?' There is a formula and we're working really hard day by day to get better, we're nowhere near where we need to be but there are a lot of positives that we saw."
 
STAT LEADERS

• Points – Julia Coleman (13)
• Rebounds – Tiffany Tullis (14)
• Assists – Kennedy Claybrooks, Ja'Niah Henson (4)
• Steals – Morgan Hill (3)
• Blocks – Julia Coleman (2)

 
SCORES BY QUARTER
1st | Texas State 21, Arlington Baptist 14
2nd | Texas State 44, Arlington Baptist 25
3rd | Texas State 69, Arlington Baptist 36
4th | Texas State 90, Arlington Baptist 48
 
GAME NOTES

• The Bobcats are starting the season 1-0 with a roster of eight newcomers and four returners.
• Freshman Julia Coleman was one rebound shy of a double-double, she finished the night with a team-high 13 points and nine rebounds. The freshman shot 6-8 on the night.
• Western Kentucky transfer Jaylin Foster led the team shooting 5-6 on the night.

UP NEXT
The Bobcats will open the inaugural MAC-SBC Challenge as they host Bowling Green on Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. inside Strahan Arena. The game is the first of a two-game series where Sun Belt Conference schools play MAC schools. The second game will be determined based on NET rankings in January to be played in early February.