The Texas State Women’s team rolled into Prather Coliseum with the knowledge that they could jump into 6th place in the Southland Conference, but that opportunity seems all but lost now as the Northwestern State Lady Demons took an 80-72 victory over the Bobcats in Natchitoches.
This loss is an especially tough pill to swallow for Bobcats fans as the players hit 45% of their shots and led by as much as 11 in the first half, but it was all for naught as NSU dropped in 10 three-pointers and hit some clutch free-throws down the stretch to improve their home record to 12-1 on the season. It also wasted some good performances by Gabriell Mattox, who has 17 points and 9 rebounds, Ashley Cole, who had 16 points and 8 rebounds, and Victoria Davis, who scored 13.
From the start, this game was a physical, fast-paced affair as elbows and players were flying all over the court. Texas State bruised NSU down low in the paint early, as Mattox and Cole made all sorts of layups, put-backs and tough shots while Victoria Davis torched the Lady Demon defense with some long jumpers. However, NSU fought back with a number of three-pointers after a cold start from beyond the arc and they fought back to take a late lead in the first half. You could sense some frustration and bewilderment on the Bobcat bench, and Davis’ buzzer-beating shot right before halftime was probably the only thing that helped the team from losing their composure.
A number of players from both sides got into foul trouble early, and for a while it looked like the abundance of whistles would hurt the Lady Demons as Texas State was in the double bonus with only 10 minutes to go in the second half. However, Aimee Hilburn fouled out for the 7th time in conference play and Chika Ofoegbu also fouled out and Texas State was forced to play small-ball, taking away one of the advantages the Bobcats had on the Lady Demons throughout the game: their post play.
From that point on it seemed like no matter what the Bobcats did, something unfortunate would happen that would keep them from getting over the hump. NSU’s offense started to fire on all cylinders as they made everything from three-pointers to tough shots in the lane to count-the-basket layups that sent the Lady Demons to the free throw line and sent the Bobcats’ hopes swirling down the drain.
Brittiany Houston, a 40% free throw shooter off of the bench, hit seven clutch shots from the charity stripe starting at the 1:23 mark and finished with a game-high 20 points. Finally, despite getting hacked mercilessly down low late in the game, the Bobcats never seemed to get the calls. However, that might not have mattered as Texas State only shot for 68% (17 of 25 attempts) from the charity stripe while NSU shot well above their average, making 24 of 29 attempts for about an 83% clip.
Texas State falls to 12-14 overall, 6-8 SLC but luckily will keep their 7th place position in the conference as a previously 5-8 Sam Houston lost to UT-Arlington today falling to 5-9, and 5-8 Texas A&M –Corpus Christi lost as well putting them to a 5-9 record.
The team will close out the season with a couple of games against Texas State’s traditional rivals. The Bobcats will be on the road next Wednesday to take on a surging UTSA team that is on top of the SLC with an 11-2 conference record, and then will come back home to San Marcos to take on Sam Houston State on Sunday. Since both games are within an hour’s driving distance for most Bobcat fans, we encourage all of you to come out and support the Texas State women’s team as they fight for a postseason berth as well as pride to close out the season. You can listen to all the games action on 89.9 KTSW.
Will Butler- KTSW Sports Staff Writer
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