San Marcos — There are some teams in the Southland Conference Texas State matches up well against — and then there’s Lamar.

The Bobcats routinely have no answers for the quicker and more athletically-gifted Cardinals and it was the same Saturday afternoon.

Lamar took off like a sprinter out of the blocks and Texas State got out to its characteristic slow start. The Bobcats fell to the Cardinals, 82-59.

“This is probably one of the fastest teams we’ve played all year long,” Texas State head coach Suzanne Fox said. “They present so many match-up problems with us because their forwards run like guards and their guards are even quicker.”

Fox chose to start a guard-heavy lineup with three guards in the backcourt (Victoria Davis, Diamond Ford and Dawn Kiel) and two forwards (Aimee Hilburn and Chika Ofoegbu) who are among the quickest on the team at their position.

Even with their speedy lineup on the floor, the Bobcats were unable to keep Lamar from sneaking behind them in transition.

Cardinals forward Kalis Lloyd ran Hilburn ragged in the first half, sprinting past the exhausted senior. Lloyd scored 18 of her game-high 28 points before halftime and 12 of those were from lay-ups alone.

“We knew we could transition ball and get some shots against this team,” Lamar head coach Larry Tidwell said. “There aren’t many forwards in this conference who can keep up with Kalis.”

While the Cardinals scored at will in transition, Texas State struggled with the simplest of baskets.

The Bobcats (4-12, 0-5 SLC) missed 11 lay-ups in the first half and shot 23 percent from the field. Texas State went into halftime down 36-21.

“We just couldn’t finish,” Fox said. “We had multiple shots where we were at the basket, point-blank, and came away with nothing.”

The Bobcats started to turn it around in the second half thanks to the play of sophomore guard Kelsey Krupa.

Krupa only played nine minutes in the first half, but tallied 15 in the second. She scored all 13 of her points and grabbed six rebounds after halftime.

“Kelsey gave us some good minutes off the bench,” Fox said. “She grabbed a few big rebounds and had a few good looks that allowed us to run our own transition offense.”

Texas State to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 64-50 with six minutes, 46 seconds left, but then Lamar brought out its second-favorite weapon — the 3-point bomb.

The Cardinals (15-4, 5-0) quickly extended their advantage to 20 points within the next 33 seconds behind two rapid-fire 3-pointers by guard Jenna Plumley.

“We do enough on offense to get us back in it, but then we have a breakdown on defense trying to match up,” Fox said. “Some of that is their speed, forcing us to scramble in transition, because they are getting down the floor so fast.”

The Bobcats were unable to make another charge, as Lamar extended its lead even more and won by 23.

With the loss, Texas State fell to 4-12 overall. It was the Bobcats’ fifth consecutive loss in SLC play.