Women’s Basketball Strahan Coliseum Makes Debut

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State University women’s basketball made its 2016-17 Strahan Coliseum debut Tuesday evening as hosts to I-35 foe Incarnate Word at 7 p.m.

Scene Setter

• Texas State makes its debut in front of the Bobcat faithful at Strahan Coliseum Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.
• Each of the Bobcats’ 11 2016-17 nonconference foes are located in Texas. The Bobcats are 12-6 against Texas-based universities since the 2014-15 season.
• A win would give head coach Zenarae Antoine her sixth straight win in home openers (5-0), and improve her overall nonconference record to 31-35.
• Texas State enters the game coming off a 64-56 loss in its season opener at SMU, while Incarnate Word fell 88-40 at TCU in its lid-lifter.

TXST vs. UIW

• Texas State is 2-0 all-time against Incarnate Word. The Bobcats won the series’ first game 45-18 in 1970. The Bobcats and Cardinals (formerly the Crusaders) did not play again until Dec. 1982 — a 68-59 TXST win — and have not met since.

Last Time Out For the Bobcats

• Texas State fell in the 2016-17 season opener at SMU by a 64-56 final. The Bobcats limited SMU to a 29.2 shooting percentage from the field, but the Mustangs made up for their shooting line at the free-throw line, making 21 of 30 attempts.
• Texas State was led by Toshua Leavitt’s 12 points on four made 3-pointers. Ericka May double-doubled with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while McKinley Bostad scored 11 points in her Bobcat debut.

Leavitt From Three

• Sophomore guard Toshua Leavitt made a career-high tying four 3-pointers in the Bobcats’ season opener at SMU. Leavitt, who was making her first career start, finished 4-of-9 from deep in the contest. She made the first two shots she took and gave Texas State its first lead of the game at 29-28 with her try from the left corner at the 7:29 mark of the third quarter.
• Leavitt’s four triples leads the Sun Belt Conference through the opening weekend of play.

May Double-Doubles

• Junior forward Ericka May posted her second career double-double with her 10-point, 11-rebound performance against SMU. May was efficient on the offensive end, making 5-of-7 shots (5-of-6 from 10 feet or less and 0-for-1 from three). Each of her 11 rebounds came on the defensive glass.
• May was one of 148 players in all of Division I basketball to record an opening day double-double.

Bostad, Emanuel and Brooke Holle Make Bobcat Debuts

• McKinley Bostad, Zandra Emanuel and Brooke Holle made their Texas State debuts in the season opener. Bostad, who sat out last season due to NCAA Division I transfer policies, started, played 30 minutes and scored 11 points. Holle and Emanuel logged four and one minutes, respectively, off the bench. Neither recorded statistics.

Texas State In Openers Under Coach Antoine

• Texas State is a perfect 5-0 in home openers during the Antoine era. The Bobcats have defeated Texas Lutheran (2011), Belmont (2012), Huston-Tillotson (2013), Texas A&M International (2014) and St. Edward’s (2015). This season Texas State makes its Strahan Coliseum debut against Incarnate Word on Nov. 15.
• Since head coach Zenarae Antoine’s arrival in 2011, Texas State is 4-2 in season openers.
• The Bobcats are 2-2 in road openers, posting victories at UT Pan American (2011) and North Texas (2012), but falling at Texas A&M in 2015 and SMU this season.

Returning Production

• The Bobcats return 72.8 percent of their scoring from a year ago, including their top two leading scorers in junior Kaitlin Walla (10.3 ppg) and Taeler Deer (9.8 ppg). Texas State also brings back more than 70 percent of its rebounds, steals, assists and blocks from a year ago. Junior Ericka May led TXST on the glass last season, averaging 6.8 boards per game with 146 of her 211 rebounds coming on the defensive end.