Bobcats grind out tough win against Vaqueros

Texas State’s early season undefeated run continued on, as the Bobcats defeated the UTRGV Vaqueros , 66-63.

Finishing the game with 19 points and hitting the game-sealing layup with only five seconds left in the game, point guard Ja’Niah Henson talked about how the Bobcats ability to stick together through the tough times pushed them over the top for the win.

“We just wanted it badly,” Henson said. “The main thing that brings us together is wanting to win and being a family. We talk about it all the time, just us sticking together. I told [the team] before the game that we were going to be in for a fight and I thought we did well fighting together.”

Second in scoring was scoring guard Timia Jefferson who finished the game with 13 points and eight rebounds.

With the game a competitive and close affair that featured six lead changes and being tied up nine different times, playing in five-minute intervals was another key in pushing the Bobcats over the top.

“The whole game we kept telling each other five minutes,” Jefferson said. “We keep putting together five minutes. When we got down to the final five minutes, we all had to give our all and put it on the line for each other.”

Head Coach Zenarae Antoine said she was proud of her team for closing out the game, while also giving credit to UTRGV, despite their injury-plagued roster.

“Gritty way to finish the game,” Antoine said. “There were a lot of things in the game I point to that I wished we corrected in the game but hats off to Coach Lane Lord. They had only nine young women able to suit out due to key injuries. They had a fighting spirit from the very beginning. … The WAC conference is tough. They have a lot of good teams with a high NET value.”

Despite the Bobcats not being able to put the Vaqueros away with a stronger score, Antoine said she was nevertheless proud of the team for their ability to close it out in the final seconds of the game.

“We kept allowing them to hang in there,” Antoine said. “There are some things we hoped that we would make some better adjustments to but we never got over that hump. But at the end of the day, we found a way to tighten it up and close out the game when we needed to.”

As the Bobcats continue on with the season, leaning on one another will be key to Texas State’s continue success.

“This is a veteran team that has playing experience just not with each other,” Antoine said. “But they are able to band those experiences with each other together. So they know they can do better and that is what you saw today. We just didn’t have a consistent piece of that happening.”

Texas State is back at home this Tuesday when the Bobcats host former conference rival Sam Houston State.

cmcwilliams@ sanmarcosrecord.om Twitter: @ColtonBMc