Senior Night Spoiled by UTSA

It was Senior Night for four veteran Bobcats: Victoria Davis, Megan Homan, Aimee Hilburn, and Tamarra Evans-Sluga. They knew this was going to be there last game that they would ever play in Strahan Coliseum, so they wanted to go out with a bang. The task was not going to be easy, as the opponent they were going to face was their archrival UTSA in the IH-35 Maroon-Orange Rivalry. The UTSA Roadrunners came into the game with a 9- 5 record in conference play. Despite a valiant effort, the Bobacts fell to the Roadrunners by a final score of 58 to 55.

The game started off with a bit of a surprise. Coach Fox thought, it being senior night, it was appropriate for her to start all her seniors in the beginning of the game. Coming into this game the Bobcats knew that baskets were going to hard to come by against the number one ranked defense in the SLC. Both teams struggled to make shots in the half. Texas State shot 26% from the field, and UTSA shot 29% from the field. The difference in the half for both teams were Texas State shooting 36 percent from 3 point range, and UTSA grabbing 11 offensive rebounds and only turned the ball over one time in the half. UTSA went into the half leading 26-23.

Both teams came out with a lot of energy and intensity in the second half. The Bobcats regained the lead and held it for much of the half. Then, the turning point of the game occurred when Victoria Davis picked up her fourth foul of the game, and she had to go to the bench. After Davis went to the bench, the Bobcats seemed to lose their momentum, and started to go back to their old ways of making careless turnovers and allowing extra chance points. When Victoria Davis came back into the game, it did not take too long for her to pick up her fifth foul. The Bobcats never seemed to play the same after Davis was disqualified due to the lack of a true point guard on their offense. Also, the leading scorer Whitney York struggled for most of the game, but when her team needed points, she was able to break the defense and get straight to the bucket without any disruption. UTSA regained the lead late in the game, and the Bobcats were not able to tie the game on the final shot as Aimee Hilburn's one-armed lob fell short. The Bobcats finished with three players in double figures, and Diamond Ford scored a team high 18 points in the losing effort.

Texas State falls to 7 and 19 overall and 3 and 12 in conference play. The Bobcats have no chance of making the Southland Conference tournament now due to the loss. The Bobcats say good bye to four seniors, but the future is very bright and this team is still very young. The Bobcats wrap up the season on the road when they travel to Huntsville on Saurday to take the Sam Houston Bearcats. You can catch the game live on 89.9 KTSW FM and www.ktsw.net.

-Nathan Castro, KTSW Sports Staff Writer