Reed's career night spoiled in 69-57 loss to UTEP

It took Texas State a little too long to adjust to its absences within the team’s rotation.

Forwards Da’Nasia Hood and Lauryn Thompson, two of the Bobcats’ top three scorers, were both ruled out of Monday’s game against UTEP — head coach Zenarae Antoine specified that it was a coach’s decision and that both players will be eligible to play moving forward. Jaeda Reed and Gabby Standifer took their spots in the starting lineup.

Reed made the most of her opportunity. She’d started four games earlier in the season but came off the bench in Texas State’s last two games.

The Bobcats gave up a double-digit lead to UTEP in the first quarter, 23-13. But the hosts kept pace with the visitors the rest of the way, leaning on Reed as their go-to scorer in the 69-57 loss.

“What worked for me was getting my position early and not moving so fast. I know one thing (assistant coach Nathan) Teymer always says is, ‘Be quick, but don't hurry.’ So whenever I caught the ball on the block, I was always thinking, ‘OK, let me settle in and let me make my move and go score.’”

Antoine knew her team would have a tough matchup against the Miners (6-1) — a long, athletic team that likes to press on defense. The visitors came in rested, too, missing two weeks’ worth of games due to COVID-19 protocol. To match UTEP’s energy, Texas State occasionally tried to unsuccessfully speed through the press, committing 16 turnovers on the night.

But when the Bobcats (5-4) did get the ball across halfcourt, they had a clear focus: get the ball to Reed on the block. UTEP struggled to contain the senior forward, allowing her to score 10 points in the first half.

Texas State went into halftime down 40-28.

“What we didn't see from the team is hanging of the heads. It's more like 'OK, alright, we got to get back to it.' After every time out, we saw a really good, positive timeout response,” Antoine said. “And I think that's critical. We also saw Jaeda Reed, stay consistent for us against a really high-quality team. I think that's important.”

Reed continued to get looks inside through the third quarter as senior guard Kennedy Taylor found her form as well. Taylor missed all four of her shots in the first half but added seven points and swiped two steals in the third.

Still, no other Bobcats saw the ball go through the hoop. UTEP took its biggest lead of the night just before the end of the period at 57-38.

The hosts pushed it back down to 12 two minutes into the fourth with a free throw from sophomore guard Presley Bennett and layups from Reed and senior guard Ja’Kayla Bowie. It was the start of Bowie’s best stretch of the game in which she grabbed two offensive rebounds for putbacks and also hit a baseline jumper, finishing the quarter with eight points.

“I was really focused on getting some rebounds and just playing ball, just hooping, just going in there and just giving 100% effort the whole game,” Bowie said. And going to get some rebounds, that was my focus.”

Reed ended the game with a career-high 19 points to go along with seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Bowie was a rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Taylor added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Texas State will look to recover on Thursday when the team hosts Dartmouth (0-10) inside Strahan Arena at 1 p.m.

“It's going to be important that we stay aggressive and we continuously get better because now we've got three games until conference play,” Antoine said. “And preseason is set so we can get ourselves prepared for conference play. And that's going to be the next objective is to find a way to win together on Thursday.”