Women’s Basketball Bobcats Crush The Bearkats
Texas State faces a quick turnaround, playing in the Annual Hatter Classic in DeLand, Fla. on Dec. 20.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Texas State women’s basketball team (7-2) was on the winning side of a second straight blowout victory, this one at the hands of the Sam Houston State Bearkats (3-5), 73-41, on Sunday afternoon at the Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville.
“It was great to see the team come out and execute,” said head coach Zenarae Antoine. “The girls work so hard during the week, so getting this result is great for them. With that being said, we do not have much time to enjoy this one as we are back on the road in a couple of days against a really athletic Bethune-Cookman team on Wednesday and a really good mid-major program in Stetson on Thursday.”
Texas State jumped out to a 26-16 lead after the first quarter of action on the strength of 20 points from the guard combination of Toshua Leavitt and Brooke Holle. Leavitt netted 11 points in the first frame, knocking down a trio of 3-point shots. Holle chipped in a pair of deep shots to score nine points in the first 10 minutes.
The Bobcats blew the game wide open in the second quarter, scoring the first 24 points of the frame. Offensively, the team caught fire, connecting on 9-of-11 shot attempts in the quarter, including all six 3-point tries. Ti’Aira Pitts drilled a couple of buckets from the top of the key to ignite the extended team run. On the defensive side, Texas State smothered the home team, limiting the Bearkats to just 1-of-16 (6.3-percent) shooting in the quarter. TXST earned a 50-18 lead heading into the halftime break.
Leavitt paced the Bobcat attack, notching 25 points, with 19 coming in the first half. The junior guard knocked down 7-of-11 shots from beyond the arc. Her seven made triples tied her own school record for made threes in a game, matching her efforts in the Sun Belt Conference Championships last season against Louisiana. She also moved past TXST legend, Joyce Ekworomadu, for fifth in school history with 158 connections from deep. Leavitt has scored 20 or more points in four games this season, all four wins for the Bobcats. She has also knocked down at least six treys in four contests.
Br. Holle was the only other Bobcat to reach double figures on the afternoon, netting 18 points. The sophomore guard has now scored 10 or more points in six contests this season. Holle knocked down 5-of-9 shots from deep, establishing a new career-high for made 3-pointers.
Leavitt and Holle helped the Bobcats break the school record for made 3-pointers for the second straight game. On Dec. 5 against UTSA, TXST drilled 15-of-30 attempts from deep, topping the school record of 14 makes. Against SHSU, the Bobcats netted 16-of-28 (57.1-percent) top eclipse the program mark for the second time in 12 days.
Senior guard Taeler Deer continued her season of giving, dishing out a game-high nine assists. With her seventh dime of the game, she topped recent Athletics Alumni Hall of Honor inductee Yolanda Wilkerson to move into fifth on the career assist leaderboard at Texas State. She is six helpers away from tying Dawn Bolner for third in program history.
Texas State faces a quick turnaround, playing in the Annual Hatter Classic in DeLand, Fla. on Dec. 20. The Bobcats will take on Bethune-Cookman at 3:00 p.m. EDT inside the Edmunds Center in a neutral site showdown. TXST will then play host Stetson on Dec. 21 at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
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