HISTORIC VICTORY: TXST’s Antoine becomes winningest head coach in program history

Head coach Zenarae Antoine etched her name in the record books as the all-time leader in wins in program history, following Texas State’s 64-48 win over the Georgia State Panthers.

Antoine’s 175th win as head coach surpassed former Texas State Women’s Head Coach, and now color commentator for the Texas State ESPN+ basketball broadcast team, Suzanne Fox.

“It’s really strange because I feel like I’m in the heat of the moment,” Antoine said. “So you don’t want to start reflecting but I can tell you this that I love being at Texas State. Very much like our Covid Seniors, I want to be here. This is where I want to be, where I want to win, and where I want to raise my family.”

Though people may not realize, being at Texas State as well as the entire Bobcat community has great meaning to Antoine.

“Being a Bobcat is so much deeper than what people see here,” Antoine said. “It’s being able to walk around the campus and see the faculty and staff that I’ve met over the years. The fact those people have touched my own children whether at the CDC or at the Learning Specialists, going to the classroom, or cheering for them academically … There are so many pieces that make Texas State a great place to coach at and a great place to get an education. So I’m very blessed and humbled to have that title right now and I’m glad I’m breaking it with this group.”

Being one of the Covid seniors that stayed on an extra year, graduate senior point guard Kennedy Taylor was happy to see her coach reach the milestone and now looks to give Antoine her first conference title.

“It’s amazing to see,” Taylor said. “We came back for a mission and we are all happy for Coach Z. She is the number one coach but we are also trying to get here that championship too. She goes out No. 1 and we come out being conference champions. That would be really amazing not only for us but the entire Bobcat community.”

Following a disappointing loss to Louisiana last Saturday, Antoine was proud of her team for stepping up in a big moment to collect an important conference win.

“Our team focused on being their best,” Antoine said. “What I appreciate about this team is that they rebound and bounce back. They are an intelligent group of women, which is obvious from their academics, so there are times where we need to show them so when they see some of the losses they take that can be changed within the game. They took that to heart with not a whole lot of complaining during practice and we got after it.”

One of key stats in the game was the Bobcats’ improvement in rebounding.

After only collecting 25 rebounds against the Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday, the Bobcats responded by nabbing 42 rebounds against the Panthers.

“We were extremely successful because we got 42 rebounds to 25 which is a statement,” Antoine said. “This was exactly what I was looking for. Those are the types of winners we are looking for. That’s really important moving forward because the goal is to make a run and we have to be better. We don’t have to be our absolute best right now but we need to see improvement especially when you can do it at home.”

Saturday’s loss was also an opportunity for Taylor and her teammates to regroup and learn from their mistakes.

“We just took it all in,” Taylor said. “The coaches did a really good job of showing us where we could have been better. As a whole we just locked in and made sure we were not making the same mistakes we were making in the past games. Just knowing that we can always be better really helped us today.”

The Bobcats end their four-game home stand on Saturday, Jan. 14 as they look to battle rival Arkansas State at 4 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.