Thomspon's buzzer-beater lifts Texas State over Louisiana in OT, 72-71

The Bobcats never stopped believing in themselves.

Despite taking a 12-point lead early in Thursday’s game against Louisiana inside Strahan Arena, Texas State found itself trailing the Ragin’ Cajuns 65-55 with 4:07 left of the clock. The Bobcats came all the way back to tie the game at 67-67 by the end of regulation and send it into overtime.

Redshirt junior forward Lauryn Thompson got an offensive rebound on the final possession of the game and made a putback layup at the buzzer to give the maroon and gold their fourth-straight win, 72-71.

“I know we had a lot of fun out there. There was times I can tell you, as a coach, it wasn't fun — specifically in the third quarter,” head coach Zenarae Antoine said. “But what was fun is just watching the team chip away and their maturity there towards the end on understanding we didn't need to take a lot of quick shots to get back in this game.”

The hosts got off to a fast start in the first quarter, building up a 16-4 lead by locking down on defense and getting into the lane in transition. Texas State (12-11, 7-4 Sun Belt) held Louisiana (13-5, 5-4) to 4-14 shooting from the field and scored all but two of its points in the paint.

It's been all about defense for #TXST tonight - they've been running the 2-3 zone to perfection, holding Louisiana to 3-12 shooting from the field so far @smdrsports pic.twitter.com/5WZGHfnFdP

— Drew King (@drewking0222) February 11, 2022

The lead began to evaporate as the visitors scored the final two buckets of the first period, trimming the deficit to eight, then began the second quarter on an 11-2 run to jump ahead, 19-18. The two sides traded blows until halftime, with the Bobcats holding a 26-25 edge.

Texas State ran into foul trouble in the third quarter. The Ragin’ Cajuns earned 17 free throws and made 13 of them while also shooting 7-11 from the field to score 27 points in the frame. The Bobcats managed to have a solid quarter offensively but couldn’t quite keep pace, scoring 21 points and falling behind 52-47.

“I can tell you, I was pretty heated about the foul count throughout the game. And I calmed myself down so my players could play through it. And they did, they did a great job of playing through it,” Antoine said. “We didn't do a good job moving our feet, and we really allowed a lot of penetration in the paint. We allowed way too many opportunities for them to get in the paint.

“We hit a point though, in that third quarter where we were all on the same page — ‘We're going ignore the officials, we have to play through it.’ Like, there's nothing you can do, right? So you play the hand you're dealt, regardless. And I think these women, as young women, definitely understand that there's things in life that you just have to learn how to play through and play above. And they did that. I didn't hear any more complaining, whining, nothing. It was like, ‘Let's just go to work, y'all.’”

Louisiana scored four points to begin the fourth, but a 7-0 run by Texas State made it a one-score game again with 7:16 to play. The Cajuns countered with an 8-0 run that put them ahead 65-55 with 4:07 remaining.

The Bobcats hadn’t lost faith yet. Senior guard Kennedy Taylor knocked down a 3-pointer, laid the ball in on the next possession, then found senior forward Jaeda Reed at the rim on the next trip down to cut the lead by seven. A few possessions later, senior guard Ja’Kayla Bowie snuck up on a ball-handler, ripped her from behind and scored on the fast break to make it 65-64.

The score remained the same when the hosts called timeout with 36.2 seconds to play. Senior forward Da’Nasia Hood ran a pick-and-roll with Taylor, received the ball on the left block and was immediately double-teamed. Hood turned to her right shoulder and went up for a shot but was blocked. She stuck with it, though, gathered her rebound and went up again, this time making an and-1 layup. Hood hit the free throw and gave Texas State a 67-65 lead with 13.5 seconds left.

Da'Nasia Hood (@OfficialDHood_) gets the go-ahead and-1 score to drop and hits the free throw to make it 67-65 with 28 seconds to play. #UL calls timeout @smdrsports pic.twitter.com/9OZUCKWaKd

— Drew King (@drewking0222) February 11, 2022

“A lot of our teammates kept saying, you know, ‘Last quarter, best quarter,’” Taylor said. “So (we were) just kind of focusing in on what are we doing well earlier and just kind of executing.”

Louisiana freshman guard Lanay Wheaton drew a foul in the final seconds of regulation and hit a pair of foul shots to knot the game back up at 67-67 and force overtime.

The maroon and gold found themselves down 71-70 with 8.7 seconds remaining in OT and called timeout to advance the ball and draw up a play. Thompson received the inbounds pass, swung the ball to Taylor on the right wing, then set a screen at the top of the key for Hood. Taylor drove inside, then kicked the ball back out to Hood, who had curled off the screen to the right wing.

Thompson rolled into the lane as Hood launched a potential go-ahead 3-pointer. Hood’s shot hit the rim, bounced out of sophomore guard Sierra Dickson’s hands and into Thompson’s.

Thompson put up a shot with bodies draped all over her, banking the ball in to put Texas State ahead 72-71 as the clock struck zero, beating the buzzer and stealing the win.

FINAL @smdrsports #TXST 72#UL 71@awklauryn. game. blouses. pic.twitter.com/DltiIr2Cdp

— Drew King (@drewking0222) February 11, 2022

“I just heard my teammates screaming, ‘Rebound! Rebound!’ Like, I heard somebody just yelling it, so I was just focused on getting the ball and I just grabbed it,” Thompson said. “And I knew it was like, eight seconds on the clock, so I just hurried up and finished it. And then it went in … So I just listened. I just found a way.”

Hood led the team with a double-double, scoring 27 points and grabbing 10 boards. Taylor added 14 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Thompson chipped in another 11 points and five rebounds.

The Bobcats will look to keep their streak going on Saturday when they host Louisiana-Monroe (4-20, 0-10) at 2 p.m.

“I look for them to come in to be really aggressive, to be honest with you,” Antoine said. “I don't think that's going to change. I think that they have gotten progressively better. It's going to be largely dependent on how they start. It's going to be really important that we do a great job defensively against them.”