Bobcats Shut Down Lady Saints, Improve to 4-1 in Strahan Coliseum

With both teams coming into Sundays game off a loss, the Texas State Bobcats and Our Lady of the Lake University women's basketball teams were pressing the issue of a win. However, the Texas State womens team did a better job of pressing the offense during the forty minute battle in a 62-47 win in Strahan Coliseum on Sunday.

The game started sloppy with both teams managing 6 turnovers between them in the first four minutes of play. The Lady Saints tried to get their highly skilled three-point shooters going, including Elizabeth Hampton who led the team with 15 points and 5 three pointers. OLLU collectively went 9-29 from three point range on the game, shooting 31%. The Lady Saints were only able to manage three point looks as the Bobcat defense was swarming all day.

When the ball was dropped down in the post, Chika Ofoegbu took care of the lane with great positioning and rebounding. Chika "O" had 8 rebounds on the day and 2 steals from the full court press. The game was looking good for the Bobcats heading into the half and it would continue into the start of the second half as they ended the game shooting 39% from the field. Victoria Davis said, "That's what [our team] is about, defense, that's how we play." That is exactly how the Bobcats took this game 62-47 in the end.

The defense was outstanding and the Bobcats had great ball movement on offense to beat a tough 2-3 zone from the Lady Saints. Texas State caused 27 turnovers by the Lady Saints and were efficient at working the full court press most of the game. Victoria Davis led the team with 6 steals and was a spark plug for the full court press. Davis also scored 10 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Following right behind her efforts was freshman Diamond Ford, who led the team with 12 points. Ford was a defensive powerhouse all day long, causing havoc for the Lady Saints shooters.

The Bobcats go into the break with a 4-6 record, all 4 of their wins coming at home against teams from the NAIA's Red River Athletic Conference. The Bobcats get set to return on January 2, 2010 when they travel to Waco to take on the 5th-ranked Lady Bears of Baylor. Tip is scheduled for 7pm central time, you can listen to all the action on 89.9 KTSW FM, ktsw.net and txstatebobcats.com

-Will McGinnis, KTSW Sports Staff Writer