Great Shooting Not Enough Against Cowgirls

If you need another look at what type of year it has been for the Texas State women's basketball team, consider this: The Bobcats had four players in double figures, shot 50% from the field, shot 54% from behind the three-point line and 71% from downtown in the second half, and did this all on the road against a 5-15, 1-6 (SLC) McNeese State team...and lost, 77-70.

Yes, it has been that type of year for the Texas State Bobcats.

Despite torrid shooting and decent defense, the 'Cats dropped another crucial contest in which they were given numerous chances to win. Self-inflicted wounds such as 32 turnovers, poor rebounding and, yes, another technical foul at a crucial juncture kept McNeese afloat and ultimately doomed the Bobcats.

Texas State began the game with yet another slow start, watching a 7-0 McNeese run balloon into a 13-3 gallop to start the first half. However, the Bobcats then had their usual counterpunch in this type of situation, ripping off a 15-4 run in just under four minutes to take an 18-17 lead at the 11 minute mark. The 'Cats and Cowgirls then proceeded to trade punches until about the 4 minute mark, when McNeese forward Ja'Niqua Kendrix and guard Raiyawna Gatlin chipped in two buckets apiece. Most of those scores came off of three straight Bobcat turnovers. Diamond Ford and Lacey Klause struck back with a couple of layups to cut an 8 point Cowgirl lead to 37-32 at halftime.

The 'cats looked to be primed for victory coming out of the locker room for the second half, as they roared back to a 37-37 tie in less than two minutes. Both teams slugged it out for the next four minutes, batting around the lead back and forth like a contested rebound in the paint. Things looked as if the 'Cats might be able to take over like they did against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday up until the 14:30 mark, when Texas State relinquished their last lead of the ballgame. Then, the Bobcat fans who made the six hour trip to Jennings High school saw what Coach Fox and her staff has seen way too many times in conference play this year--Texas State gave up a huge run that they were ultimately unable to recover from.

McNeese exploded out to a 25-10 run in the next nine minutes of action and the Bobcats, possibly sensing another relapse, had another loss of composure. Senior Megan Homan, who had quietly been working her tail off this year, finally voiced her frustration with a clearly missed foul call on her with 9:48 remaining. Homan had reason to be frustrated--she clearly blocked a Cowgirl shot without contact. Also, the SLC officiating crew of Bobby Harmon, Michele Englinger and Ivory Bickham had done such a questionable job that they had:

• Missed three different instances (one for Texas State, two for McNeese) where a defensive foul had clearly merited a 1 and 1 but let the teams play anyway
• Contradicted each other so much on their calls that they had to stop play to discuss what happened with each other a good 8-9 instances
• Completely overlooked one if not two over-and-back calls
• Committed all sorts of blown calls and no-calls that had both fanbases roaring their disapproval most of the game and.......
  
• .....were having to look at the KTSW and McNeese radio crews for what should have been the right call at times. This is not a joke.
  

So, it's understandable why even a normally unassuming player like Megan Homan would voice her frustration after a good 30 minutes of...well...interesting officiating. It's unknown what was said by Homan to Michele Englinger after the foul at 9:48, but it got her a technical, and the Bobcats lost all momentum afterwards. That's not on the officials, obviously, instead it is meant to point out that Texas State was responsible for this and similar team collapses against UTSA and UTA late in the second half of those games. McNeese jumped out to a 68-54 lead with about 4:58 remaining, and the Bobcats were sunk. Texas State tried to mount a furious comeback within the last five minutes with a number of threes made by Ford and Krupa, but they were ultimately unable to come any closer than 7 points.

Coach Fox talked about her team's need to play smarter on the KTSW Postgame Show, namely the 32 turnovers that plagued the Bobcats all evening and the need to put their frustration (as previously mentioned) behind them. McNeese capitalized for 36 points off of the Bobcat turnovers, while Texas State was able to convert 20 points off of only 24 McNeese turnovers. The Cowgirls also registered 13 steals, three higher than their season average. Fox also mentioned how Texas State's amazing shooting performance was canceled out by 26 offensive rebounds by the Cowgirls which led to 21 second-chance points for them. Giving up offensive boards has been an issue for Texas State all year, but when one sees that this was the first game that the Bobcats gave up more offensive rebounds (26) than defensive rebounds (22), one starts to understand why 50% shooting wasn't enough.

Lost in the shuffle were double digit performances by Diamond Ford (16 points), Kelsey Krupa (13 points), Aimee Hilburn (11 points), and Verinus Kalu (10 points). The Cowgirls also had four players in double figures; Candace LaCombe torched the 'Cats for 24, Kiara Johnson and Kendra Wells dropped in 14, and Ja'Niqua Kendrix had 12 points.

Texas State badly needed to go 2-0 against this week's competition to improve their chances of making the Southland Conference tournament, but were only able to go 1-1. As a result, they fall to 5-15 and 1-8 in SLC play, tied for last in the conference with Nicholls State. Things won't get any easier for the Bobcats this week as they'll take on the top two teams in the SLC by record, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and Lamar. The Bobcats will face the Islanders at 7 pm on Wednesday in Strahan and will look to avenge a heartbreaking 78-72 loss in Corpus earlier this season. You can listen to that game live on Stretch Internet, located at txstatebobcats.com.

-Will Butler, KTSW Sports Director/Blog Editor