By Tyler Mayforth
Daily Record Sports
San Marcos — Texas State head coach Doug Davalos might have said it best after watching his team struggle in a 82-78 loss to Texas-Arlington last Saturday afternoon.
Davalos didn’t wax poetic, but he made sense when asked how his team would bounce back after the loss.
“How do we respond? The whole league is playing like this,” Davalos said. “You can’t get too high or low on this conference schedule because you’ve got so many games to play and we did a great job to put ourselves in a position where it’s not must-win mode.”
Four days later, Davalos might be singing a different tune.
The Bobcats lost their second consecutive game and dropped to 4-4 in the Southland Conference after their 75-66 loss to Southeastern Louisiana Wednesday night.
While the loss didn’t put Texas State in must-win territory, it did raise some red flags.
The Bobcats held a 12-point lead with four minutes, 37 seconds left in the first half, but only led by three at halftime. Texas State also got foul happy in the second half, sending the Lions to the free-throw line 36 times.
Even though the Bobcats made 22-of-27 free throws in the second half, their overall field-goal percentage was awful. Texas State only made seven of its 38 attempts.
The Bobcats need to pick up a win tomorrow afternoon against McNeese State to avoid a three-game losing streak. Tip-off is scheduled at 4 p.m. inside Strahan Coliseum.
It will be the first time Texas State and the Cowboys have met on the hardwood this year. The Bobcats fell in Lake Charles, La., 85-79, in 2009.
Texas State is 10-8 all-time at home against McNeese State.
Can the women make it two in a row?
Maybe the Texas State women’s team is on the right track after posting its first conference win Wednesday night.
“That win was huge for us in what we’re trying to do with this program,” Texas State head coach Suzanne Fox said. “We just need to be able to put another one together to get going in the right direction.”
At the same time, perhaps it’s a mirage.
Only time will tell for the Bobcats, as they hit the road tomorrow to Lake Charles, La., to play McNeese State.
The Cowgirls aren’t the best team in the conference with a 5-15 overall record. McNeese is 1-5 in the SLC with its only win coming three games ago against Nicholls State.
Kiara Johnson and Kendra Wells lead the Cowgirls in scoring with 14.3 and 12.9 points per game, respectively.
Saturday’s game won’t be played on McNeese’s campus, rather, it will be held at Jennings High School, the alma mater of Cowgirls head coach Brooks Donald Williams.
