Texas State women’s basketball (13-16, 3-13 Sun Belt Conference) suffered a nail-biting 55-50 loss to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (14-12, 9-7 Sun Belt Conference) Saturday afternoon at Strahan Arena.
Both teams entered the game with 13 overall wins, with Texas State looking to snap a three-game losing streak and the Ragin’ Cajuns eager to continue their four-game upward climb.
“We tried some different looks this game, I thought it was positive for us,” Texas State Head Coach Zenarae Antoine said. “This game was truly a game of inches at the end of the day.”
It was a low-scoring game with most of the work in the first quarter coming from the defensive side of the paint.
Texas State graduate student guard Ja’Niah Henson was the top scorer of the afternoon for the Bobcats with 11 points to go along with a pair of assists. Senior forward Morgan Hill also contributed on both sides of the court, scoring eight of the Bobcats’ 50 points with two assists. Defensively, Hill finished with six rebounds, one steal and one block.
Junior Tamera Johnson was the top scorer for Louisiana-Lafayette, netting 15 points while shooting 6-for-9 from the field.
In the fourth quarter the Bobcat defense held Louisiana to just three field goals. However, foul trouble frequently sent the Ragin’ Cajuns to the free throw line throughout the period, where they scored 14 of their final 20 points to put the game away at 55-50.
Graduate student guard Gara Beth Self led the Bobcats in scoring during the fourth quarter, knocking down two three’s.
“We talked about moving the ball around a lot more and not being so stagnant in our offense, which made [Louisiana-Lafayette] have to play more defense,” Self said.
Ultimately, turnovers led to Texas State’s demise. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished with 17 points scored from Texas State’s 21 turnovers.
With two games remaining before the conference tournament, the Bobcats will look to end its four-game losing streak against Southern Miss (16-11, 9-7 Sun Belt Conference).
Tip-off between Texas State and Southern Miss is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Strahan Arena. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
