Lady Raiders Hold Off Furious Bobcat Run

A loss is a loss. There is no such thing as a moral victory, and Bobcat head coach Suzanne Fox will be the first person to tell you that. However, after a close 75-71 loss in Lubbock to Texas Tech, Coach Fox didn't look nearly as distraught as she has during previous losses, and for good reason. After being down by as much as 17, the Bobcats went on a 13-0 run within the last three minutes and saw the game clock run out on them.

The frenetic final effort stood in stark contrast to the Bobcats' other losses to Louisiana-Monroe, Colorado State and especially Houston, where Texas State looked stagnant and lost at times. Additionally, Anna Brozowski had a great effort down in the low post with 14 points and Diamond Ford went coast-to-coast three times in a monster 12-point effort for the freshman guard. The Bobcats shot 60% in the first half and 52% on the game, and at times looked like they couldn't miss. To their credit, Texas State never looked intimidated by the palatial atmosphere of United Spirit Arena and their big-name opponent out of the Big 12 Conference, and looked very scrappy all evening.

Now that we've had our Kool-Aid drinking session, let's bring ourselves back down to reality.

Turnovers were easily the story of this game. The Bobcats had 27 of them to be precise, and Tech took advantage with 30 points off of those giveaways. Conversely, the Lady Raiders coughed up the ball 19 times and the Bobcats got 21 points off of those turnovers, so it's safe to say that turnovers were a big difference in this game. It was an unfortunate stat for the Bobcats as it was clear that they couldn't miss whenever they could get a shot off. Addtionally, Tech beat the Bobcats up in the paint, holding Chika Ofoegbu and Lacey Klause to a combined 6 points and scoring 38 points near the basket. Tech's star player Kierra Mallard torched the Bobcats for 25 points, Ashlee Roberson had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards, and the Lady Raiders had 4 players in double figures. Needless to say, despite the feel-good story of the Bobcats' 13-0 game-ending run, Texas State still has a number of things to work on.

Texas State has a great opportunity to score their first Division 1 win on the year on Saturday when they visit Texas Southern in Houston. Tipoff is at 4:30 pm, and you can listen in on 89.9 FM KTSW and online and ktsw.net.

-Will Butler, KTSW Sports Director/Blog Editor