Bobcat Bench Shines, Starters Struggle in Blowout Loss to UTEP

Since a close four-point road loss to a talented Texas Tech team, the Texas State women's basketball program has found itself in the doldrums. Thursday night's game at UTEP could have been a golden opportunity for the Bobcats to snap out of their haze and regain some momentum to their early season, but instead the Lady Miners took home a convincing 65-45 victory. Texas State shot an abysmal 27.3% from the field and close to 22% in the first half, and those shooting woes ultimately led to a 31-9 UTEP run over the course of both halves.

The 'Cats started out the first half in close competition with the Lady Miners, as both teams looked evenly matched for the first ten minutes. UTEP and Texas State traded early blows, with the Bobcats getting a couple of steals and transition buckets while the Lady Miners went over the top and grabbed a few offensive rebounds and putbacks on their end. Diamond Ford, Aimee Hilburn and Megan Homan all had some impressive buckets, and the Bobcats took an early 14-13 lead with 10:06 remaining in the first half. That's when disaster struck.

Eight minutes and 20 seconds later, fans at the Don Haskins Center saw the dust clear with UTEP registering a 19-3 run. Hilburn finally answered with a 3-pointer with 1:22 remaining in the first half, but by that time the damage was done. The Bobcats seemed to have a relapse into some of the bad habits that plagued them in the Huston-Tillotson game--namely, bad passing and occasionally poor shot selection. Things didn't get any better out of halftime for Texas State, as the Lady Miners went on an 18-5 run and eventually led by as much as 30.

Give UTEP credit, they played great defense out of the 2-3 zone and almost always had a hand in the face of the Bobcat shooters. However, it's also safe to say that the Bobcats just had an off night shooting as well, as they missed most of the open looks that they did create and tallied their lowest point total on the year. Nineteen turnovers also didn't help the Bobcats' cause, and UTEP scored almost a third of their points off of Bobcat turnovers (22 of 65 total). Coach Fox said she was impressed by her bench's performance during the KTSW Postgame show, and for good reason as they tallied 24 points on the night. However, the starters had a horrific game and will have to step up their production in future weeks.

Texas State will have to avoid falling victim to "a classic trap game" as mentioned by Coach Fox on the team bus in Our Lady of the Lake on Sunday at 1 pm in Strahan Coliseum. OLLU will be the fourth team that the Bobcats have played out of the NAIA's Red River Athletic Conference, and Texas State will certainly look to put in a better performance than their 99-94 double overtime win over RRAC member Huston-Tillotson on December 8th. You can catch all of the action in Strahan or listen live on 89.9 FM KTSW, ktsw.net and txstatebobcats.com.

-Will Butler, KTSW Sports Director/Blog Editor