Texas State finding its rhythm ahead of homestand

After losing to Appalachian State, 62-49, on Jan. 12, Texas State head coach Zenarae Antoine said she was disappointed in the way her team executed on offense.

“I really go back to poor shot selection,” Antoine said at the time. “I think because we have such a young playing experience team — the understanding of, ‘OK, it’s not happening as fast, why not?’ — they tighten up.”

The Bobcats worked on the offensive side of the ball all week, looking for new ways to to get easy baskets — especially inside. On Saturday, the hard work paid off.

Texas State beat Arkansas State on the road, 85-62, and outscored the Red Wolves in the paint, 42-20. Forwards Zandra Emanuel Da’Nasia Hood and Jayla Johnsoncombined for 36 points and 17 rebounds. Antoine was impressed with the senior, freshman and sophomore, respectively.

“I said it in the pregame, but it is worth repeating. I thought the forward group played really well for us today,” Antoine said after the game. "They watched extra film during the scout and it showed.”

It was an important step in the maroon and gold’s development. The more involved the bigs get on offense, the less pressure the team’s guards have to face. Senior guard Toshua Leavitt, for instance, went 12-21 from the field and 7-13 from deep for 31 points in the victory.

“(The forwards) have gotten better over the course of the conference games.” Leavitt said. “The forward group is all new, so we didn’t really have chemistry much with them. So everyday in practice, we have to work on our plays and what we’ll get against defenses. And that’s just how we’ll build our chemistry. So, I think we’ll get better as the season goes.”

Finding a lockstep offensive rhythm will be crucial in the Bobcats’ next two games inside Strahan Arena, as Texas State (9-9, 4-2 Sun Belt) hosts Georgia State (9-8, 3-3) and Georgia Southern (5-12, 0-6) this weekend. The Bobcats picked up victories over both teams during a road trip earlier this month, but know their opponents will make adjustments.

Leavitt lit up the Panthers in their first matchup, dropping 35 points in the 69-60 win on Jan. 5. The Bobcats did a good job of finding Leavitt open in the cracks of Georgia State’s 2-3 zone and will look to do the same in their rematch. The tougher task will be cooling off a team that outscored Troy on Saturday, 84-80, in the Trojans’ first conference loss of the season.

“It’s going to take defensive effort against Georgia State.” Antoine said. “They’re primarily a zone team, so we’re going to look to refine some of the things we did the first time around, scoring-wise. But defensively, they got some points in the paint. They really hurt us, it felt like.”

While the Eagles haven’t had as much success, Antoine said her team still need to be weary of No. 9 offense in the Sun Belt, especially with junior guard Alexis Brown, who scored 34 points in a 97-81 loss to Troy last Thursday.

“You turn around and look at Georgia Southern, Brown — even though the team has struggled in winning — Brown just came off a 34-point game,” Antoine said. “So, her being a focal point and being able to get a stop defensively is going to be really important.”.

Texas State will begin its homestand on Thursday against the Panthers at 7 p.m. and finish it on Saturday against the Eagles at 2 p.m. Leavitt said the team can’t take its past two victories for granted.

“We can’t let up and say ‘We beat them before, so it’s going to be easy,’” Leavitt said. “We have to play great and play hard. And we need to get both the wins as well as because we just split. So, we definitely don’t need to split again or lose both.”