2017-18: Texas State Women’s Basketball, A Year In Review
The Bobcats entered the season with more skeptics than believers. The Sun Belt Conference released its annual preseason coaches’ poll on Nov. 2. Texas State…
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The 2017-18 season was one for the ages for Texas State women’s basketball. The team, tasked with competing against an all-Division I schedule, concluded the season having earned more victories than any women’s basketball team in program history during the Division I era and broke several school records in the process.
TEAM ACHIEVEMENTS
The Bobcats entered the season with more skeptics than believers. The Sun Belt Conference released its annual preseason coaches’ poll on Nov. 2. Texas State, who had three players selected to the preseason all-conference teams, was picked to finish fifth in final standings.
Fast forward 10 days to the season opener, a game in which the Bobcats trounced Texas Tech. The 87-70 victory over the Lady Raiders gave head coach Zenarae Antoine five season-opening victories in seven chances.
The win was also the program’s first defeat of a Power 5 Conference team since clipping TCU, 91-80, back on Nov. 25, 2012. Senior guard Taeler Deer set the tone for her last ride in the maroon and gold, pouring in a career-best 44 points in the victory.
The Bobcats navigated through the remainder of the non-conference slate with a record of 7-4, including a near record-shattering triumph over in-state rival UTSA. The Roadrunners came to Strahan Coliseum on Dec. 5 and were ran out of the gym as TXST won by a final tally of 91-38, the 53-point margin matched the most lopsided Bobcat victory in the series history.
Within the seven non-conference victories, Texas State defeated teams from two Southland Conference foes in Sam Houston State and Incarnate Word, two SWAC opponents: Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern, Fresno State out of the Mountain West Conference, UTSA from Conference USA and Texas Tech of the Big 12.
Texas State lost three of its first eight contests inside SBC play, but rallied to win nine of the final 10 regular season tilts. The shift in momentum started on a road trip to Georgia in late January. Brooke Holle led the charge against Georgia Southern, scoring a career-best 26 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Two days later, Toshua Leavitt tied the SBC record for made 3-pointers in a game, burying 10 triples in a victory over Georgia State.
After ending the regular season on a five-game winning streak, Texas State clinched a first-round bye in the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship and earned the second overall seed for the tournament.
The Bobcats opened the tournament with a hard fought victory over Coastal Carolina, 78-69, before topping Louisiana, 62-52, in the semifinal matchup. Despite playing a tough draw, the Bobcats survived to play in the SBC title game.
In the championship game, Texas State met Little Rock, the regular season conference champions. After a sluggish start, the Bobcats trailed by 21 with just over 16 minutes to play.
The Trojans entered the games at the nation’s sixth most stingy defense, making a 21-point deficit feel that much more insurmountable. Texas State, unfazed by the moment, began to mount a comeback. Just 13 minutes of game time later, the Bobcats took the lead on a 3-pointer from Leavitt at the top of the key. Unfortunately, TXST came up inches short of a dramatic comeback.
Texas State earned the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid into the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) for the second time in program history. The 2007-08 team clinched a spot in the WNIT 10 seasons ago. That team defeated Prairie View A&M in the first round of the WNIT to secure the program’s first national postseason victory.
When the bracket was announced on Selection Monday, the Bobcats were pitted against the Rice Owls in Houston. The historic 2017-18 season ended in Tudor Fieldhouse as Texas State fell 71-60 to host Rice.
The season did not end with a championship ring as so many of the seniors had pushed for, but the 23 victories were the most ever by a Texas State women’s basketball team in the Division I era. Undoubtedly, the five seniors leave behind a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.
INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Coach Antoine earned career win No. 100 in a home victory over ULM on Jan. 18. She became just the fourth coach in Bobcat women’s basketball history to amass 100 career wins with the program, joining the ranks of: Suzanne Fox (174 wins), Judy Rinker (145 wins) and Linda Sharp (138 wins).
Deer ended the season as Texas State’s first ever Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. Both Tori Talbert and Joyce Ekworomadu were honored as Southland Conference Players of the Year.
After being named third team all-conference following her junior campaign, Deer garnered first team accolades to close out her career. She was also named the SBC tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for her efforts in New Orleans.
Leavitt was awarded second team all-conference for her tremendous junior campaign. She became the third player to earn second team all-SBC honors, joining Ashley Ezeh (2013-14) and Erin Peoples (2014-15).
BROKEN RECORDS
The Bobcats attacked the record book all season long, breaking five program records and placing athletes on numerous other top-10 lists.
Leavitt placed her sights on the 3-point record book the minute she stepped foot on campus her freshman season. As a junior, she sits atop of every 3-point record the school has to offer. As previously mentioned, she broke her own school record for made 3-pointers in a game.
The first time she made 10 3-pointers was in a one-point loss at Coastal Carolina. She connected on 10-of-14 attempts from deep and scored 34 points on Dec. 31 in Conway S.C. Twenty-seven days later at Georgia State, she again scored 34 points, this time making 10-of-16 shots from behind the arc.
After making 137 3-point attempts during the season, she established the new school record for single-season made triples, besting Ekworomadu’s previous mark of 82 makes during the 07-08 campaign.
Leavitt broke the Sun Belt record for most 3-pointers made in a season and was one of five athletes to match or top the previous NCAA record for 3-pointers made in a season. She became the first Bobcat basketball player, male or female, to eclipse 200 career made 3-pointers on her way to a program best 254 makes in her three seasons.
Finally for Leavitt, she became the 17th women’s basketball player in program history to reach 1,000 career points, doing so on her final made bucket of the SBC semifinal victory over Louisiana. She closed out her junior season with 555 points, the ninth most in a single season in program history.
Deer’s senior season landed her on eight season and career top-10 leaderboards at Texas State and a two-time school record holder. She dished out 213 assists on the season, passing Shelly Borton’s 161 for the most in school history.
In the win at Georgia State, Deer handed out a career-high 14 helpers, the most ever by a Bobcat in a single game. For her career, Deer ranks second, behind only Borton, with 429 assists.
After scoring 29 points in the conference-opening win at Appalachian State, she etched her name in the 1,000-point club. She became the 16th member of the club and the fifth under Coach Z. She is one of two Bobcats in program history to tally 1,000 career points and 400 career assists.
By season’s end she amassed 1,386 career points, the ninth highest total in school history. Deer scored 572 points in her senior season alone, the sixth highest single season output. She ranks seventh in career made 3-pointers (130) and 10th in career made free throws (224).
On the defensive end, Deer had a knack for finding the ball. She registered 187 career steals, the fourth best output in program history. Of the 187 career steals, 74 came during her senior season, the eighth best single season mark.
Ericka May grabbed 237 rebounds during her senior season, the ninth most in school history. She finished her Texas State career with 836 career rebounds, fifth most in program history. Defensively, she added 151 career steals, tied for 10th on the all-time Bobcat list, and 55 blocks, tied for the 10th in school history.
Ti’Aira Pitts collected 37 blocks during her final season in the maroon and gold, tied for the fifth highest single season total at TXST. She ended her career with the second most blocks recorded by a Bobcat, 73.
Finally, in her first year as a starter, Holle converted 57-of-157 shots from behind the 3-point line. Her 57 makes place her ninth in school history for made triples in a single season.
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