COMEBACK CATS: Texas State rallies to defeat ODU, 52-46

Texas State continued its rallying ways after staging a double-digit comeback against Old Dominion.

The Bobcats defeated the Monarchs on Thursday, 52-46, at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va.

Texas State (14-6, 6-3 Sun Belt) trailed by as many as 12, but the Bobcats’ stifling defense gave ODU (13-9, 5-4) trouble and limited the Monarchs to 25.6% shooting in the second half. The Bobcats were able to work their way back into the game after trailing 23-19 at the half and 32-29 at the end of the third quarter. Texas State outscored its opponent 23-14 in the final period to take the 52-46 win.

The Bobcats’ win on Thursday dropped ODU’s home record to 9-1 and held the Monarchs to their fewest points in a game this season.

Texas State, meanwhile, has held back-to-back opponents under 50 points for the first time since November 2019.

The trio of Da’Nasia Hood (11 points), Kennedy Taylor (7) and Ja’Kayla Bowie (7) combined for 25 of the 33 second-half points by the Bobcats. The three combined to shoot 8-of-19 from the field (42.1%) and chipped in six free throws out of nine attempts in the final 20 minutes.

Hood, who missed the last two games, finished the game with a team-high 18 points. Bowie added 13, which were her most points since the conference opener on December 29 against Georgia Southern (14).

Texas State trailed 18-6 halfway through the second quarter, but it managed to pull within two late in the period with a three-pointer by Hood.

After coming out of halftime down 23-19, the deficit for Texas State swelled to 31-23 as the Bobcats were only 2-of-10 from the field to start the second half.

However, a 3-pointer by Hood — one of her two in the game — snapped the cold stretch offensively and set off a run to end the game in which the Bobcats were 8-of-17 shooting (47.1%) in the final 12 minutes.

The Bobcats took the lead, and never looked back, after Bowie scored six straight points and made it 35-34 with 8:48 remaining in the game. Almost a minute-and-a-half later, Taylor drilled a fastbreak three-pointer near the top of the arc to put the Bobcats up 38-34.

Texas State stretched it out to as much as seven points after six straight points by Lauryn Thompson made it 43-36, but Old Dominion narrowed the advantage down to 45-44 with just over three minutes remaining. The Bobcat defense limited the Monarchs, though, by holding them to only one field goal on their final 10 attempts.

Texas State returned to action Saturday after press time to take on Southern Miss inside Strahan Arena.

Information included from Texas State Athletics