Bobcats doomed by turnovers in close loss to rival Ragin Cajuns

In a close battle with rival Louisiana, the Bobcats were unable to overcome 21 turnovers in Texas State’s 55-50 loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Despite the turnovers, Head Coach Zenarae Antoine was proud of the Bobcats for adjusting their game in the second half to keep up with Louisiana in a tight contest.

“It was evident from this game that at halftime our team came out and really battled and fought,” Antoine said. “It was just a few possessions. This game was so close. This was truly a game of inches that we ended up on the losing side of. What I can take away from this game is that I definitely felt better energy coming out at half. We had a better in game response. We tried some different looks this game because of the way [Louisiana] plays, and I thought that was a good response from us. It was just untimely fouls, a missed box out, just a close shot that rimmed in and out. It was truly just a game of inches at the end of the day.”

Graduate senior point guard Gara Beth Self noted that the conversations at halftime between the players helped push the team to a better performance in the second half.

“We always talk before the coaches come in and access the first half on our own,” Self said. “There was a lot of positive talk, even when we were speaking about the mistakes. We were coming up with solutions to come up with in the second half. The conversations we had carried on in the second half.”

Heading into the second half, the Bobcats trailed 23-20 following a defensive slug fest in the second period.

Though Louisiana kept their lead for the entire period, the Cajuns were unable to make the deficit bigger than more than four points due to Texas State refusing to give in.

Trailing 35-31 going into the fourth period, the Bobcats opened the period on a 8-2 run to take the lead at 39-37.

But the Cajuns responded with a 8-0 run to be in the driver seat.

Despite the Bobcats best efforts to get back out in front, including cutting the lead down to two points, it wasn’t enough. Louisiana closed out the game winning 55-50 over Texas State.

The Bobcats are back home for the final two games of the regular season as they host Southern Miss tonight.

cmcwilliams@sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc