Texas State defeats Little Rock, 51-44

Texas State’s coaches told graduate forward Gabby Standifer to keep shooting her shot.

Her first 3-point attempt of Tuesday night’s game against Little Rock was rushed. Four minutes into the first quarter, junior forward Da’Nasia Hood dished her the ball with just three seconds on the shot clock. Standifer chucked a triple up from the left wing, but it missed the rim and backboard entirely, falling out of bounds on the right side of the court.

The Bobcats fired from outside five other times through the first three quarters of the game. They missed on all of them. Heading into the final period, a nine-point lead for Texas State had been diminished to a two-point edge.

But Standifer found her form in the fourth, knocking down her team’s only two treys of the game to stay in front of the Trojans and earn a 51-44 victory inside Strahan Arena.

“They were more important for Gabby than anybody else,” head coach Zenarae Antoine said. “She knocks them down all the time when she’s shooting in practice, she’s knocking the shot down when she’s working on it. I think for her, it’s just knowing that she can get back to who she is and getting to that comfort level there of being out there as another player, again, who’s had an opportunity.”

Standifer, who transferred from Fresno State this offseason, started in place of senior guard Avionne Alexander, who, along with freshman forward Nicole Leff, was ruled out Tuesday for what Antoine described as day-to-day injuries. The contest against Little Rock (8-7, 4-4 Sun Belt) served as a make-up game for the series between Texas State (7-7, 4-5) and the Trojans that was postponed last month.

The Bobcats ran a 2-3 zone on defense the majority of the time — Little Rock shoots the fewest number of 3-pointers per game in the Sun Belt. The visitors sank three shots from deep in the first quarter to establish a 15-12 lead, but didn’t hit another 3-pointer the rest of the way. The hosts held them to just two points in the second quarter on 1-12 shooting, forcing six turnovers.

“I wouldn’t say much changed (on defense),” redshirt sophomore Lauryn Thompson said. “I think we just enhanced it more by upping our communication and our ball pressure, we really focused on having more ball pressure so we could slow down the ball. So the team just really locked in, tried to communicate with each other, making sure we were passing off the girl going through.

“And rebounding. We boxed out better and we rebounded. That truly changed the game right there and Coach had told us that, too. We focused on boxing more and hitting the boards more and it opened up for us.”

Thompson and Hood kept the maroon and gold offense afloat in the first half, scoring 18 points combined and granting the team a 25-17 lead at halftime. The Trojans found its rhythm again on offense, though, scoring 19 points in the third quarter and cutting the deficit to 38-36.

Junior guard Kennedy Taylor sent a cross-court pass from the right wing to freshman guard Presley Bennett in the left corner to begin the fourth quarter. Bennett drove inside, then kicked the ball back out to Standifer near the top of the key, who canned the Bobcats’ first 3 of the evening.

The visitors regained the lead midway through the fourth at 44-42. With 2:56 remaining, Taylor swung a pass to Standifer wide open on the right wing and the forward dropped in another triple to push Texas State back in front. The hosts led the rest of the way, securing the 51-44 win.

“Obviously, that helps separate with the low-scoring game, knocking down that 3,” Antoine said. “It takes stress off Da’Nasia with her 3-ball, it takes stress off Kennedy with her ball. So those were great, game-changing shots that she made, offensively, for us. But I’m most happy, honestly, for Gabby because that’s really what she does well and she shot so comfortably — especially after that first one.”

Standifer finished her first start with eight points. Thompson posted her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Hood led the team with 16 points and added another six boards. Taylor scored six and dropped four dimes to move up to third place on the program’s all-time career assists list with 352.

The Bobcats will head to Little Rock this weekend for a two-game road series with the Trojans, Friday’s game beginning at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday’s at 4 p.m.