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The fourth quarter’s been kryptonite for the Bobcats lately.
Texas State has been outscored in the final 10 minutes in each of the past four games. The team is 1-3 during the stretch.
None of the other games meant as much as Monday night’s meeting with Little Rock. The game was played inside Strahan Arena, where the maroon and gold held a 5-0 record this year. It was the first Sun Belt game of the season. And it was against the Trojans, who defeated the Bobcats in the conference tournament finals in 2018 and has become a marquee opponent for Texas State.
“I mean, every game in the Sun Belt, it seems like a rivalry,” senior guard Brooke Holle said. “And especially being like the first home game, we were really wanting to defend our home court. And we have a history with Little Rock of beating them at home and we just, we knew that they were going to come in with the mindset that they were going to try to change that and we knew that we were have to defend it. And they just play hard and we play hard, so I think it's just a good matchup every game.”
The hosts held 62-60 lead with 6:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Little Rock (3-9, 1-0 Sun Belt) ended the game on an 18-4 run to take the 78-66 win.
“I have to be honest, I'm disappointed in the outcome of this game, more so because I felt like our team had the preparation that they needed in order to win the game, then we lacked execution within the game itself,” head coach Zenarae Antoine said. “And, you know, you've got to be able to make those adjustments within a game.”
The Bobcats (7-5, 0-1) opened up with a 19-16 edge in the first quarter and maintained the three-point lead heading into halftime. The team held the rebounding advantage for most of the night, thanks in large part to Jaeda Reed achieving the first double-double of her career with 11 points and 11 boards.
“I think it was a huge emphasis for me to start using my ability to be able to get in there and be a bigger body in there and be able to get more boards for our forward group,” Reed said. “Coach Z, she had us all think of goals, like set goals for ourselves for the Sun Belt Conference play, and one of them was more rebounding so I can get in there. And I felt like I did a pretty good job of trying to like actually get the goal going for the conference.”
But as the third quarter began to wind down, the visitors began forcing their way to the rim more often. The Trojans scored 12 points in the paint and finished the period making 61.5 percent of their field goals.
Little Rock took over the glass in the final quarter, outrebounding Texas State by eight. The Bobcats didn’t seem to have a counterpunch, making just one of their final nine shot attempts. The Trojans took the win, 78-66.
“I think it's a matter of what we gave up was so easy for them,” Antoine said. “So they were getting to the free throw line and that became deflating and you could see that. And really just trying to help our team pick themselves up was what I was trying to do. I know that they wanted to win the game. I think at that point they were in a position where they were stifled, like, 'Wait, this entire game we've been back and forth and been able to hold them and now this is just quickly happening and the time is is running down.' You know, we still have a pretty youthful team, this is our first (Sun Belt) game, so some anxiety set in.”
Holle led the team with 22 points, followed by Reed and sophomore point guard Kennedy Taylor with 11 each. The team will face off with Arkansas State (3-9, 0-1) on Saturday inside Strahan Arena at 2 p.m. Holle expects the team to regroup.
“(We need to) really come in and focus with the mindset that we need to see how we were able to succeed in this game but most importantly, see how we can improve so we can move forward,” Holle said.
