Bobcats Fire on All Cylinders, Terrorize Lady Demons

The Bobcats were apparently uninterested in simply winning against Northwestern State on Saturday at Strahan Coliseum. In fact, to them, simply winning would be an underachievement. Instead, Texas State set their sights on sending a statement, doing exactly that as they crushed the Lady Demons 76-57.

From tip-off, the Bobcats’ energy was full steam ahead. Seven minutes into the game, Northwestern State already found themselves down by 10, as they struggled to tame whatever “beast” Coach Fox had unleashed. Thanks to 10 offensive rebounds and 9 second chance points, the Bobcats held a halftime lead of 33-25.

However, The second half started off rocky for Texas State. With only two minutes drained off the clock, the ‘Cats 8 point lead had dwindled to 2 and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, NSU was suddenly right back in the game. The Lady Demon excitement was short lived however, as Kelsey Krupa drained a three pointer to hush the visitor bench and increase the Bobcat lead to 5. From that point on, the Bobcats slammed the pedal to the metal as they finished the game on a 40-26 run.

A key spark to the second half success was Senior Victoria Davis. The 5’6” guard runs the offense for Texas State, but found herself scoreless in the first half of Saturday’s game. Her drought was mundane though, scoring 11 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, and pick-pocketing 2 Lady Demon passes in the second half.

In what was the 48th meeting between the two teams, the Bobcats used precision and hustle to assure they pulled out the victory. Five of the nine players who scored made at least 50% of their shots. Combined, Texas State shot a lights-out 43.9% from the field, as their counterpart connected on only 35.7% of their field goals. For the ‘Cats, freshman Diamond Ford led the way in scoring, going 6 of 6 from the stripe and ending up with 16 points. Team leader Victoria Davis, sharp shooter Kelsey Krupa, and junior forward Chika Ofoegbu had 11 apiece, while Anna Brzozowski scored 8 and senior Aimee Hilburn tacked on 7 points of her own.

While scoring puts points on the board, it’s near impossible to search for reasons why the Bobcats owned their opponents without seeing the hustle stats. The Bobcats out-rebounded the Lady Demons 46-28, with 16 of the boards coming from the offensive end. Aimee Hilburn ended with 11 rebounds, Chika Ofoegbu had 7, Victoria Davis netted 6, and nine others recorded some stat in the category. For Northwestern State, Sherrion Thomas was the leader with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Freshman Guard Trudy Armstead also had a great outing in the loss, scoring 12 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.

Losing Saturday marks as the Lady Demon’s 5th loss in 6 games. Already a lock to play in the conference playoffs, this Lady Demon squad is just looking to make sure their slump doesn’t carry over to the post-season. They’re now 6-8 in the conference and 13-14 overall. Up next for Northwestern State is a trip to Huntsville to take on Sam Houston State on March 3rd.

The win puts Texas State at 3-11 in the conference and 7-18 overall. The 'Cats will host UTSA on March 3rd, and they finish the season on the road three days later to take on Sam Houston State. You can listen to the UTSA game at 7 pm on Stretch Internet at txstatebobcats.com, while you'll be able to hear the SHSU game live at 2 pm on KTSW and ktsw.net. If you want a more extended look at what Texas State must do to make it to the SLC Tournament in Katy this month, check out our upcoming post breaking down the current situation.

-Andrew Vizzone, KTSW Sports Staff Writer