Bobcats roll in season opener against Howard Payne

Texas State tipped off the season in style by scoring more then 100 points as the Bobcats defeated the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets 104-35.

The Bobcats were able to play someone not wearing a Bobcat jersey for the first time this month during Monday’s season opener.

As Head Womens’ Basketball coach Zenarae Antoine explained, getting into game shape is always important as in practice scrimmages may not show what the team needs to improve on.

“It’s nice to be able to dust off the cobwebs in this opening game, for sure,” Antoine said. “Being able to play in two closed scrimmages is great, but you never, when the lights turn on, know what we are going to look like. And the nice thing was we were able to run everyone out there tonight to give them an opportunity to play.”

In the end, Antoine saw many positives to take away from the performance as well as things the team can work on as the season progresses.

“We were also able to take a look at several things that are going to be really important to us moving forward,” Antoine said. “I think, overall, in this game, there were some things I was expecting us to be able to do, but then there were also stretches when we didn’t do some things well. But we bounced back from those stretches and did a much better job. Overall, I’m pleased with this start.”

One of the keys to this season was the focus on defensive play which Antoine spoke about at Sun Belt Media Days last month.

The Bobcats showed signs of defensive improvement as they held Howard Payne to just 35 points,   holding the Yellow Jackets to just three points in the second quarter.

The key for the Bobcats success in limiting the Yellow Jackets offense was being aggressive on the floor which is something senior point guard Kennedy Taylor heard her coaches talk about during the offseason.

“I thought we did a great job of staying aggressive on the defensive end all night,” Taylor said. “The coaches have been talking about defense ever since we finished last season, so I think we stayed aggressive and did a lot of communicating.”

But Taylor also saw the need to continue to get better especially as Texas State faces tougher opponents not only in non-conference play but also the Sun Belt Conference with a focus on the boards.

“On the flip side, though, I believe there’s always room for improvement on the defensive end of the court, especially our rebounding,” Taylor said. “We’ve been really focusing on boxing out, finding someone to attach to and getting the rebound.”

Meanwhile, the offense has no problems scoring.

One-hundred-four points is the most points the Bobcats have scored since December of last year when Texas State defeated Texas College 105-37.

Five Texas State players reached double figures in scoring, including Taylor who finished the night with a double-double as she scored 12 points, all of which came from the three point range, and 12 assists.

Leading the team in scoring was Lauryn Thompson with 22 points along with Da’Nasia Hood with 21 points.

Both Thompson and Hood were second in rebounds as the duo grabbed seven apiece while Nicole Leff led with eight rebounds.

Texas State returns to play this Saturday as it takes on another former rival in the Sam Houston State Bearkats at 6:30 p.m. in Huntsville.