SAN MARCOS, Texas — Making its second appearance in the WNIT in the last six seasons, Texas State will open the postseason tournament with a first round matchup at former conference rival Stephen F. Austin on Thursday at 6:30 pm in the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
 
The Bobcats, the Sun Belt's co-regular season champion, and Ladyjacks, the WAC's regular season runner-up, are a part of the 64-team field in the WNIT, which has its first-round matchups taking place Wednesday through Friday.
 
Texas State (23-9) has not faced SFA (26-6) since 2014 when the two faced off in the WBI first round, but they have squared off 67 times in the two programs' histories. The two were longtime members of the Southland Conference.
 
The Bobcats are playing in a postseason tournament for the fifth time in the last 10 years thanks to the regular season conference championship and appearance in the Sun Belt Basketball Championship title game. They are aiming to advance to the second round of the WNIT for the first time since 2008.
 
The Ladyjacks compiled a 15-3 record in the WAC, falling one game behind Southern Utah for the conference crown. Led by WAC Freshman of the Year Jordan Harrison and All-WAC First Team selections Aiyana Johnson and Avery Brittingham, SFA is tops in its conference in scoring, field goal percentage, scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. The Ladyjacks are also 13-2 at home this season and have not lost at home since January 28.
 
The winner of the TXST-SFA matchup will play the winner of Arkansas-Louisiana Tech in the second round, which is set to take place March 18-21. Arkansas and LA Tech play on Thursday at 7 pm in Fayetteville.

 
IN THE RANKINGS

• Texas State enters the WNIT ranked 35th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (36.8 percent) and 38th in the country in scoring defense (58.2 points allowed per game).
• The Bobcats have held 4 of their last 6 opponents to 20 field goals made or less.
• In the Sun Belt, Texas State is 2nd in scoring defense, 1st in three-point percentage defense, and 4th in field goal percentage defense.
• Offensively, the Bobcats are 2nd in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage and 2nd in three point percentage.

 
WNIT HISTORY FOR TEXAS STATE

• Texas State, one of 3 Sun Belt teams playing in the postseason, is making its third all-time appearance in the WNIT. The previous two trips were in 2008 and 2018.
• In 2008, the Bobcats hosted Prairie View A&M in the first round in San Marcos and won, 84-83. They lost in the second round to Texas Tech, 82-49, in Lubbock.
• In 2018, Texas State played at Rice in the first round and lost 71-60.
• The win in 2008 was Texas State's lone win in program history in a postseason tournament. It is 1-7 all-time in the NCAA, WNIT and WBI.

 
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST SFA

• Texas State and SFA were both members of the Gulf Star (1985-87) and Southland Conference (1988-2012) and have faced one another 67 times since the first meeting in 1970. Of those 67 meetings, 56 were as conference foes.
• The Bobcats trail in the series, 11-56, but are 4-5 in the last 9 meetings, which is since the 2007-08 season when Texas State won the Southland Conference championship.
• Texas State and SFA met 66 times over 42 years from 1970 to 2012, but they have only played one another one time in the last 11 years coming into Thursday.
• The last time Texas State and SFA squared off was in the first round of the 2014 WBI. The Bobcats lost at SFA, 59-51, on March 20 of that season.

 
ON FIRE

• Da'Nasia Hood enters the WNIT on fire, having scored 15+ points in 13 straight games entering Thursday.
• The graduate student is averaging 19.5 points on 44.7 percent shooting (37.7 percent from three) and has grabbed 8.3 rebounds per game over the last 13 contests.
• Hood averaged 21.7 points in the 3 games during the Sun Belt tournament, shooting 52.2 percent from the field (24-of-46) and 66.7 percent from three (10-of-15).
• She has shot 50 percent or better in 5 of the last 8 games.
• Hood, who became one of only 3 Bobcats in program history to be named all-conference first team 3 times in a career this year, is 37 points away from tying Tori Talbert (2001-05) for 4th on the Texas State career scoring list.
• Hood is one of 3 Bobcats in program history to have 1,800 career points and 800 career rebounds. She is joined by Talbert and Linda Muelker (1981-85) in that Texas State club.

 
HEATING UP

• Taelour Pruitt comes into the WNIT with back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts in the final games of the Sun Belt basketball tournament.
• Pruitt had 17 in the semifinals against Southern Miss and 12 in the championship game against JMU, which gives her an average of 14.5 points per game in the last 2 contests.
• Pruitt is averaging 6.5 points per game this season.
• Pruitt, who has 1,075 points in her career, was named to the 2023 Sun Belt All-Tournament Team after averaging 10.3 points off the bench for the Bobcats in the conference tournament.
• Pruitt is one of 3 Bobcats with 1,000 career points (others: Da'Nasia Hood and Kennedy Taylor). Pruitt is in her first and only season with Texas State after scoring 876 points for SEMO for the first four seasons of her college career.

 
WITH THE ASSIST

• Kennedy Taylor has 190 assists in 32 games this season and is averaging 5.9 assists/game.
• Her 5.9 assists/game are 14th in the country while her 190 assists are 12th-most in the nation.
• The 190 assists are also the 2nd-most in a single-season by a Bobcat in program history.
• She is 10 assists away from becoming only the second Bobcat in program history to have 200 assists in a season.
• Taylor owns 3 of the top-4 assist totals in a season by a Bobcat.

 
Most Assists, Single Season
Texas State History
1.   Taeler Deer (2017-18)                       213
2.   Kennedy Taylor (2022-23)                 190
3.   Kennedy Taylor (2021-22)                 183
4.   Kennedy Taylor (2019-20)                 170
5.   Shelly Borton (1989-90)                    161