Bobcat Blues Continue In The Bayou

Despite yet another frenetic comeback late in the game by the Bobcats, the Texas State Women’s Basketball team dropped their 5th straight game in a 67-58 road loss to the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions.

Gabriell Mattox had another double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds and Kim Cessna had 10 points, but their efforts weren’t enough as three players scored in double figures for the Lady Lions, including bench player Quantae Thomas who torched the Cats with 18 to lead Southeastern Louisiana in scoring.

Texas State played a solid first half on both sides of the court despite some big three-pointers from a number of Lady Lion players. Mattox quickly jumped out with an 11-point burst in the first ten minutes, but stalled a bit as the Bobcats proceeded to bruise Southeastern down in the paint with Cessna leading the charge. The only real lapse the Bobcats experienced was a late 5-1 run by the Lady Lions that put Texas State down by the score of 30-26 at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room the game quickly took a disastrous turn for the Bobcats as Southeastern Louisiana went on a 21-5 run in the first ten minutes to eventually expand their lead to 20. Preseason All-Southland Conference selection Kristy Carlin and Quantae Thomas went on a scoring spree; Thomas abused the Bobcat posts in the paint and Carlin hit some key jumpers to put the Lady Lions up by what would ultimately be an insurmountable lead.

Despite the large deficit, the Texas State players refused to give up, mounting a feverish comeback in the last ten minutes led by Chika Ofegbu, who scored 8 of her 9 total points during that time. Most of her points came in the paint, as she made her presence felt down low to score some crucial layups. Mattox also scored 9 during the comeback effort, many of those coming from the charity stripe. The Bobcats were able to cut the Lady Lion lead to 5, but a couple of clutch free throws by Kristy Carlin and Chelsea Hix put the game away as the game wound to a close.

Texas State now falls to 8-12 overall, and most importantly 2-6 in the Southland Conference, leaving them last in the SLC West and 10th overall in the Conference. They are also still winless on the road this season. This loss doesn’t help the Bobcats’ chances of getting to the Southland Conference tournament in Katy this March, as only the top 8 teams are accepted to play for the title. However, Texas State does have an opportunity to claw back into 9th place as they host 2-5 McNeese State in Strahan Coliseum at 2 pm this Saturday. This team is down but certainly not out, so we hope that everyone will come out and support their Bobcats.

Will Butler- KTSW Sports Staff Writer