In its first conference game of the season, Texas State women’s basketball (9-4, 0-1 Sun Belt Conference) lost 70-69 to Georgia Southern University (11-2, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) in the last seconds of gameplay Saturday afternoon at Strahan Arena.
“This was a really tough game,” Texas State Head Coach Zenarae Antoine said. “We struggled with second chance opportunities, and that’s the name of the game.”
The Eagles tested the Bobcat defense with a man-to-man press from the opening tip, allowing them to score the first basket of the game just 34 seconds in.
Graduate student guard Ja’Niah Henson led the Bobcats in scoring with 18 points, half of which came from the charity stripe. Henson now maintains a .925 field goal percentage, the highest of any Sun Belt Conference player this season. Graduate student guard Gara Beth Self added 12 points on four three-pointers for the Bobcats.
Junior forward Tiffany Tullis and graduate guard Timia Jefferson dominated offensively and defensively, earning five rebounds each. Junior forward Jaylin Foster added four rebounds.
Georgia Southern senior guard Terren Ward scored a game-high 29 points. The Eagles utilized their bench throughout the game, with 19 points coming from junior forward Kayla Thomas and senior center Lydia Freeman.
“We said Terren [Ward] is going to score. We just need to make those scores difficult, and I think we made those scores difficult for her,” Antoine said. “She got two great offensive rebounds and putbacks. You cannot allow that.”
The second and third quarters of the game saw both teams at their peak, with neither maintaining the lead by more than seven points.
In the fourth quarter, the game remained neck-and-neck. The Bobcats maintained possession for the final 17 seconds of the game, though were unable to find the net one last time, resulting in the 70-69 loss.
This is the first time Georgia Southern has beaten Texas State in the past four meetings between the two teams.
Texas State will attempt to win its first conference game of the season against its next opponent, Appalachian State University (7-5, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference). The Mountaineers won their conference opener 69-56 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Tip-off between Texas State and Appalachian State is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, at the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, North Carolina. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
