Prairie View A&M Overcomes Large Deficit to Down Texas State

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Texas State jumped out to a 19-point lead, but Prairie View A&M outscored the Bobcats 58-35 over the final 30 minutes of play en route to a 64-60 victory in women’s basketball action Friday evening.

Texas State led 25-6 after the first quarter and 39-24 at the half, but Prairie View A&M took advantage of five second-half three pointers and 26 points off turnovers to seal the come-from-behind win.

Prairie View A&M was led by Jeronia Allen’s 21-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Dominique Newman scored 20 and Tori Carter also reached double-figures with 14. The Panthers’ finished the contest shooting 42.0 percent (21 of 50) and forced 21 Bobcat turnovers.

Taeler Deer scored a season-high 24 points to lead the Texas State contingent. Deer, who finished a career-best 6 of 6 from 3-point range, scored 18 of the Bobcats’ 25 first-quarter points. McKinley Bostad joined Deer in double-figures with her 12 points on four makes and three free-throws. Zandra Emanuel led Texas State on the boards with a season-high eight as the Bobcats won the rebounding battle 33-31. Texas State closed the game making 22 of 49 shots for a 44.9 percentage. The Bobcats outscored PVAMU 24-12 in the paint and 13-9 in second chance points.

Deer gave Texas State a 6-0 lead with an early 3-pointer, then scored 12 straight as part of a 14-0 Bobcat run to push the visitors ahead by 16 at 20-4. The Bobcats’ lead later stretched to 19 at 25-6 with Deer’s 3-point at the quarter buzzer.

Texas State kept its double-digit lead throughout the second quarter. The Bobcats made 7 of 11 shots in the period to improve their overall first half shooting percentage to 55.6 percent (15 of 27). Prairie View A&M’s second quarter offensive output consisted of five makes, including threes by Allen and Newman, along with six free throws. The Panthers trimmed the Texas State lead to 35-24 with 1:22 to go before the intermission, but Amber Jones and Kiani Lurry answered with baskets to give the Bobcats a 39-24 halftime advantage.

Prairie View A&M opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run with five different Panthers scoring to trim Texas State’s once 19-point lead to five at 39-34. Bostad broke the Bobcats’ scoring drought with a score inside at the 6:02 mark, sparking a 7-1 run that pushed the Texas State lead back to double-digits. The teams exchanged the quarter’s final four points, leaving Texas State ahead 48-39 entering the fourth period.

The Panthers’ Newman bookended an inside score by Texas State’s Jones with a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the fourth, cutting the Bobcat lead to 50-45. Deer then answered with her sixth 3-pointer of the night for a 53-45 lead; however, Newman would continue to knock down threes, eventually cutting the Texas State lead to 56-53 with 4:44 to play.

Following a Texas State timeout PVAMU’s Allen hit a mid-range jumper and after a timeout and forced turnover Allen gave the Panthers’ their first lead of the game at 58-56 with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:29 to play. Nearly two minutes later McKinley Bostad tied the game with a score inside, but Alexus Parker responded with the game’s next four points to push the Panthers ahead 62-58 with 31 seconds remaining in regulation.

Deer scored her 24th and final point of the night on a jumper with 22 seconds left; however, the Bobcats would get no closer as the Panthers hung on for the 63-60 win.

Texas State returns home to Strahan Coliseum on Monday (Dec. 19) to face Sam Houston State at 7 p.m.

Sun Belt Conference Championship

• The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from the Texas State ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference’s championship central websites – Men’s Championship – Women’s Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media – @SunBelt.