Senior forward Nicole Leff was one of three Bobcats to score double-figures as Texas State women’s basketball (1-0) defeated Arlington Baptist University (0-1) 90-48 in its season opener at Strahan Arena Monday night.
Leff and freshman forward Julia Coleman, who scored 11 and 13 points, respectively, were two of Texas State’s 13 scorers. Junior forward Jaylin Foster added 10 points and five rebounds for a team playing its first game with eight newcomers.
“Hats off to the coaching staff for recruiting young women who understood [what] the vision is,” Texas State Head Coach Zenarae Antione said. “[They] understood that we always come from a place of love because we coach them hard.”
Arlington Baptist senior forward Jakayla Bradford scored a team-high 11 points and was the only scorer in double-digits. The Patriots had a seven-point run to start the second quarter to tie the game at 23-23 before Texas State’s 17-point run.
“You want to be able to compete,” Antoine said. “You want to push yourself and your staff and our players to a place where we can see, ‘can we do it?’ There is a formula, and we’re working really hard day by day to get better. We’re nowhere near where we need to be, but there are a lot of positives that we saw.”
Texas State will face Bowling Green University in its next game. The Falcons went 31-7 overall and 14-4 in the Mid-American Conference last season.
“We have an extremely tough opponent coming up,” Antoine said. “We’ll have some time to take a look at them against another tough Division I opponent. We need to lock in.”
Tip-off between Texas State and Bowling Green is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at Strahan Arena. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
