Women’s Basketball Promotes Paige Love

The Bobcats set the team standard for victories in the Division I era, ending the season with a record of 23-10, including a trip to the 2018 Sunbelt Conference Championship title game and the program’s second appearance in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State University head women’s basketball coach Zenarae Antoine has named Paige Love the program’s newest assistant coach.

Love has spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant for the Bobcat women’s basketball team. Prior to her time at Texas State, Love played four seasons at UNC Asheville.

“From the moment I met Skyler Paige, I knew that she was a ‘mover and shaker’ in our profession,” Coach Antoine said. “Over the last two years she has dedicated herself to our program and its success.

How fitting it is to have a master’s degree Bobcat enter the workforce at her Alma Mater. It is a great day to be a Bobcat!”

Love was a vital part of the program’s historic 2017-18 season.

The Bobcats set the team standard for victories in the Division I era, ending the season with a record of 23-10, including a trip to the 2018 Sunbelt Conference Championship title game and the program’s second appearance in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

With help from Love, all three of Texas State’s starting guards enjoyed career seasons.

Taeler Deer was named the program’s first Sunbelt Conference Player of the Year after averaging a career-best 17.3 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per contest.

Junior Toshua Leavitt was named Second Team All-Sun Belt after breaking every 3-point record Texas State had to offer, including 3-pointers made in a game (10), season (137) and career (254). After seeing limited time on the floor as a freshman, Brooke Holle proved to be a reliable third option for the Bobcat offense, averaging 11.7 points per contest.

Following the 2017-18 season, she was a roundtable speaker at the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Convention at the Final Four in Columbus, Ohio. She presented “Behind the Scenes: the Graduate Assistant Life.”

The 2016-17 season, Love’s first as a graduate assistant, saw the Bobcats finish 16-15 overall, including an 11-7 record in Sun Belt play, which garnered the No. 4 seed in the Sun Belt Championship, and earn an at-large berth to the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Deer earned Third Team All-Sun Belt honors after averaging 10.8 points per game.

While at Asheville, Love helped guide the Bulldogs to the 2015-16 Big South regular season and tournament championship. The Bulldogs clinched the program’s second bid to the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. Asheville earned the No. 14 seed in the Lexington Regional and drew a first round matchup with the host Kentucky Wildcats.

During the season, Love was a winner of the William and Ida Friday Award for Service to Community, a nominee for the WBCA All-State Good Works Team, the John Wooden Citizenship Cup and the NCAA Woman of the Year award. At the conclusion of her senior year, Love was named the UNCA Female “Big Dog of the Year” and earned the UNCA Bulldog Service and Leadership Award.

Love graduated from UNC Asheville in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in health and wellness promotion and received a master’s degree in exercise science at Texas State in 2018.

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