Photo by Gerald Castillo
Bobcats sweep weekend with win over Arkansas State
After taking Little Rock to triple overtime in a 69-65 road win on Thursday, Texas State went on to sweep the weekend with a 75-69 win at Arkansas State on Saturday.
Senior guard Ja’Kayla Bowie led the way for the Bobcats, earning her first career double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
“It was just a tremendous effort by Ja’Kayla,” head coach Zenarae Antoine said in a statement. “I was watching film and doing self-scouting and the one thing I’ve been waiting is for Ja’Kayla to have a breakout game. After the very first timeout we had (Saturday), which was very early, I said, ‘Ja’Kayla, let it loose. Get after it. Get downhill. Take it to the rim.’ And she kind of gave me a look and I guess she understood the assignment. I’m really proud of that effort and not just the scoring piece, but she got a lot of defensive rebounds, too.”
The Tyler native scored her first points of the game at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter on a jumpshot and went on to score another seven to finish the period with nine. Bowie added another seven in the second quarter, helping Texas State (10-11, 5-4 Sun Belt) lead 47-43 at halftime.
The Red Wolves (10-11, 3-5) began to come back in the third quarter, taking a one-point lead less than three minutes in. But Texas State began attacking the lane, going on a 14-5 run with 10 of the team’s points coming in the paint.
The Bobcats entered the fourth quarter up 63-57 and held Arkansas State to 4-19 shooting down the stretch to take the 75-69 victory. The Red Wolves shot just 35.7% from the floor for the game, which is the second-lowest mark in any game this season for the league’s top-scoring team.
Texas State had four other players finish in double digits along with Bowie — senior forward Da’Nasia Hood with 14 points, senior guard Kennedy Taylor with 13, senior forward Jaeda Reed with 12 and sophomore guard Sierra Dickson with 10.
The maroon and gold play just once this week, hosting Coastal Carolina (12-6, 2-5) inside Strahan Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m.
