Bobcats rally from double-digit deficit to down ULM

Texas State rallied from a double-digit deficit Thursday night to defeat Louisiana Monroe, 65-57.

After trailing by 10 through the first 13 minutes of the game, the Bobcats (13-5, 5-2 Sun Belt) were lifted by senior guard Kennedy Taylor, who scored 11 of her 13 points after the first quarter and nine in the second half. Thursday’s 13-point performance marked her fifth straight double-digit scoring effort.

The win over the Warhawks marked the third double-digit rally this season. Texas State, which evened its road record to 3-3 this season, has now registered two of its three double-digit comebacks on the road. It did it at Sam Houston, where the Bobcats trailed by 12 in the second quarter, in the second game of the season.

Guard Taelour Pruitt joined Taylor in double figures in scoring with 11. It was her first game with 10 or more points since mid-December. She finished the game 4-of-5 from the field, including one three pointer, to go with her 2-of-2 outing at the free throw line.

Texas State as a team was 18-of-22 at the charity stripe.

Nicole Leff and Jaeda Reed had nine points each. Reed, playing in her third game of the season, scored seven of her nine points in the first half to help Texas State take a 28-28 score into the break.

The Bobcats scored 18 of the final 26 points in the first half, 10 of which came at the free throw line.

Texas State had to fight back after missing 16 of its first 20 shots from the field, but after ULM (6-12, 2-5 Sun Belt) turned an offensive rebound into a second-chance three-pointer, the Bobcats called a timeout with 7:22 remaining in the second quarter.

The Bobcats used stops on the defensive end and free throws on the other side to make it a five-point deficit at 22-17 with 4:13 remaining in the first half. Then after a Pruitt lay-up, Reed scored five straight points for the Bobcats to pull them within two at 26-24. Later, a three-point play by Leff evened the score at 28-all entering the break.

In the third quarter, Texas State shot 50 percent to help it overcome a back-and-forth score. The lead changed three times until a Ja’Kayla Bowie three-pointer gave the Bobcats a 43-42 lead with 2:41 left in the quarter – a lead Texas State would never relinquish.

The Bobcats scored seven points in the first minute-and-a-half of the fourth quarter to open up their first double-digit lead at 56-46. They would stretch it to as much as 12 when Tianna Eaton hit a lay-up that made it 60-48.

The Warhawks trimmed it down to five points with less than a minute to go, but as Taylor’s three-point attempt to beat the shot clock bounced out, Bowie had the board and putback to put the Bobcats up seven with 34 seconds left.

Information provided by Texas State Athletics