Lady Mavericks Stem Bobcat Run, Steal Conference Opener in Strahan

The Texas State Women's basketball team opened conference play Saturday afternoon against UT-Arlington, with a tip set for 4pm. The Bobcats came into the game coming off one of the worst defeats in its history against a very good Baylor squad, (ranked 5th in the nation at the time of the game) and looking to redeem itself to start the beginning of conference play. However, an intense effort by Texas State was not enough, as the Lady Mavericks took the conference opener 66-60.

The first half started with both teams showing a full court defense and a few turnovers. A lot of energy was seen in this game and it started at the opening tip. UT-Arlington, looking to redeem themselves after coming off a bad defeat against nationally ranked Texas in their previous matchup, took a quick lead. However, the Bobcats were never trailing by more than 7 points in the first half. Victoria Davis and Chika Ofoegbu were the spark plugs for the Bobcats as they helped to effectively work the full court press all half. Davis and Sophomore Verinus Kalu led the team at half with 6 points each. The Lady Mavericks were lead in scoring by Meghan Nelson, their leading scorer on the season, who at the half had 6 points herself. Lacey Klause also had a big game and started early having 5 rebounds and 1 block (another in my opinion, un-attributed to her) in the first half.

The leading attendance arena in the conference, Strahan Coliseum, got active with about 9 minutes left to go in the first half and the Bobcats trailing 19-13. The "Loud Crowd" helped the defense create opportunities and momentum shifted to the home team as did the lead. After an Aimee Hilburn basket gave the Bobcats a 25-19 lead on the Lady Mavericks. That quickly turned into a 25-21 lead when Kiara Parker hit a layup on the next possession for UT-Arlington. This soon became a 25-25 tie with the Bobcats in possession and :25 seconds on the clock. Victoria Davis walked the ball up the court very calmly, looked as if she was going to set up a play and a quick drive, step back, and jumper-at-the-buzzer later the Bobcats were headed to the locker room with a 2 point lead.

Coach Fox said after the game that her team didn't have the same intensity and fire they had at the end of the first half and it showed. The Lady Mavericks started the half on an 8-2 run. Coach Fox called a timeout and tried to encourage the team. She did and with the help of Verinus Kalu, Dawn Kiel, and Diamond Ford the team started to get energized. The three young stars brought a type of swagger the Bobcat women's basketball team has needed all year. They were on fire, defensively and offensively. A couple of other players that were also helping in a much needed way were Aimee Hilburn, who despite having a tough day with foul calls (more about that later), still played great defense. Megan Homan as well had a good game helping down with some tough players for UT-Arlington down in the paint. She and Chika "O" held Shalyn Martin to 7 points, and Veronica Mergerson to 4 points. Those were two of the Lady Mavericks main scorers in the paint, and despite both players having double-digit rebounds, were ineffective scoring.

The game was very physical throughout the entire contest, but after the timeout at the beginning of the second half by coach Fox, it got incredibly intense. There must have been a body on the ground every play in the second half. Like earlier mentioned, a couple ofbBlocking calls came out on the wrong side for the Bobcats as Aimee Hilburn might have had position a few times down low. However, the calls were definitely consistent. Hilburn was definitely attacked (not intentionally) all game, from perimeter to post. As were many other Bobcat players. This was definitely a quicker team than they had been used to seeing (other than maybe Baylor).

Overall the Lady Mavericks had too many fast break points and ended up putting the Bobcats in a hole to start conference play. And just like last year when UT-Arlington came into Strahan and won this year could end up seeing the Bobcats miss the playoffs by one game. However, Bobcat fans have much to anticipate, both Verinus Kalu and Diamond Ford said after the game, when asked where are the Bobcats headed from here, and both said "the top." Texas State's next game is against another conference opponent in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who obliterated Central Arkansas for their conference opener. The tip is set for 7pm in Corpus Christi on January 13th, you can listen to all of the action live on 89.9 FM KTSW and online at ktsw.net.

-Will McGinnis, KTSW Sports Staff Writer