Last season, Texas State women’s basketball finished 13th in the Sun Belt with a 14-18 overall record and a 4-14 record in conference play, with the season ending at the hands of Georgia Southern in the Bobcats’ first and only conference tournament game of the season. The Bobcats opened the season against Eastern Michigan in the MAC-SBC Challenge—the first time the two schools have ever played each other and the second year of the challenge.
Recent graduate guard Ja’Niah Henson finished the season with a team-leading 14.7 points per game and senior forward Tiffany Tullis contributed a .536 field-goal percentage and 6.6 rebounds per game. With the Bobcats hoping to improve on these numbers, senior forward Jaylin Foster, who averaged 9.4 points and 4.6 rebounds last season, is a player who will be counted on to power the team to success this year.
The loss to Georgia Southern was not the conclusion the team wanted. There are many new faces on this starting five now, with some fresh blood coming in to fill the shoes of key players. Freshmen guards Heather Baymon and Takeira Ramey inject new life into the program, and sophomore guards Ja’Mia Harris and Mia Galbraith are new faces from higher-level programs. However, how these newcomers will address the challenges left by last season’s roster changes remains to be seen.
Despite having solid defenders in Foster and senior forward Morgan Hill, Texas State struggled last season in rebounding and ball control, impacting its overall performance. The team finished near the conference’s bottom in total team rebounds and offensive rebounds, averaging 33.9 rebounds (13th in the league) and 11.7 offensive boards (11th) per game. Finishing the 2023-24 season with a rebounding margin of -0.8, the Bobcats often lost possession battles, making it challenging to keep pace with higher-ranked teams in the Sun Belt.
As the Bobcats look to rebuild for contention, their offense must regain its rhythm and replace the scoring from key departures in order to create a winning team. They averaged 62.4 points per game last year, shooting 38 percent from the floor.
Graduate guard Sierra Dickson and senior guard Crystal Smith could be the key to a successful 2024-25 season. They averaged 3.8 and 4.1 points per game a year ago, respectively, and will likely need to increase their production if Texas State wants to win the Sun Belt.
The Bobcats face Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Strahan Arena. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
