By Tyler Mayforth
San Marcos — Expectations were high coming into the season for the Texas State women’s basketball team.
A year after going two rounds into the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, the Bobcats were picked to finish second in the Southland Conference.
Texas State didn’t have Joyce Ekworomadu (graduation), but still had Ashley Cole, Victoria Davis and Kim Cessna.
If the Bobcats were going to compete, it would be up to the upperclassmen to guide the team. Not only that, Texas State would need a scorer to differentiate herself from the mix.
The Bobcats had a tough non-conference schedule to prepare themselves for SLC play. Texas State would play Drake, Iowa, Utah State and Texas-El Paso in the first two weeks of the season.
“Our schedule is really challenging, it’s much tougher than we had a year ago,” Bobcats head coach Suzanne Fox said at the SLC media days. “But we felt with the number of returnees we had coming back that it would prep them going into conference play.”
Texas State didn’t have much luck against the tough opponents, losing all four.
The Bobcats sandwiched those losses around a Tyler Ugolyn Columbia Classic tournament championship and began the season 2-4.
After beating up on Paul Quinn and Huston-Tillotson, Texas State traveled to College Station to try its might against Texas A&M.;
The Aggies were ranked third in the nation at the time and well, showed why. Texas A&M; crushed the Bobcats, holding them to 25 percent shooting (16-of-64).
Texas State rebounded to win two games at home, which were closer than expected. The Bobcats struggled to put away Concordia, a Division III team, but won 68-58 in overtime.
“We didn't do what we needed today, but we were able to win,” Fox said after the game. “You could tell their minds were elsewhere, but we got the win.”
The same could have been said for the rest of the season.
Texas State never got into a groove since it was so inconsistent. The Bobcats, before they entered conference, had three different two-game winning streaks, sprinkled among several two-game skids.
After opening SLC play with a loss to Texas-Arlington, Texas State had its first duel with Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi, which, a year earlier, knocked the Bobcats out of the SLC tournament.
Texas State throttled the Islanders in the first half, but let off the gas in the second. The Bobcats nearly gave the game away, but held on to win by four.
“Tonight is the epitome of what we’re going to see throughout this season,” Fox said after the game. “The teams that can put 40 minutes together will win every time they step out on the court.
“We put a good half out there and put good bits and pieces sprinkled in the second, but we need to continue to extend it over a longer period of time and when we do, hopefully we’ll be competitive in most games.”
Fox’s words would hang over Texas State for the rest of the season.
The Bobcats put together solid halves, but never in the same game.
Texas State dropped like a cement block midway through its conference schedule due to the inconsistency.
The Bobcats lost five consecutive games between Jan. 21 and Feb. 4 and free-fell to the cellar. If Texas State was to make the SLC tournament, it would need to make a quick turnaround.
“Losing isn’t fun, but we know we can turn this around,” Bobcats forward Gabriell Mattox said. “We’re just not doing what we need to do to win. We’re not out of this yet, so we just need to pull it together.”
Texas State battled back to win its next two games against McNeese and TAMUCC. The Bobcats’ win over the Islanders was on the road, their first of the year.
Following a stinker to Lamar, Texas State won two more in a row and put itself in position to make the SLC tournament.
Yet, as the Bobcats showed all season, nothing is for sure.
Texas State lost its last three games, falling out of contention for the postseason. The Bobcats lost on senior day in a do-or-die game — win and you’re in, lose and you’re out.
So, a team predicted to finish second in the conference didn’t take advantage of a chance to make the conference tournament.
Texas State was hurt by injuries during the season, as Ashley Cole (ankle) missed a healthy portion of conference play and Tamarra Evans-Sluga didn’t even see the floor.
“It was one of those things where we couldn’t seem to get healthy,” Fox said before the last game of the season. “It shouldn’t be an excuse, but we couldn’t get a consistent group out on the floor.”
The Bobcats lose four to graduation (Cessna, Cole, Ryann Bradford and Brittany Wilson) and will need to find someone to fill the voids.
Mattox and Aimee Hilburn should be the focal points of the offense next season, after they combined to score 20 points per game. Victoria Davis lit up the stat sheet, yet, needs to be more sure of her 3-point shot and not turn the ball over so much.
Fox predicted before the season it might be a rebuilding year simply because the team didn’t have a true scorer, or an outside threat.
It’s time for Texas State to get one, or it could be another long season.
