Bobcats Overwhelmed by Oklahoma State Offense, Fall 66-55

By Alex Gibbs
Assistant Sports Director
@alexthethinker6

The Texas State Women’s basketball (3-4) team fell to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (6-0) 66-55 on Friday night at the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, OK.

For the second game in a row, junior guard Brooke Holle led the way offensively, scoring 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting with two assists and three rebounds. Senior guard Toshua Leavitt was not far behind Holle with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting with four rebounds. This was Leavitt’s 14th straight game scoring in double-figures. She has now made 277 career 3-point field goals, trailing Leslie Logsdon (Western Kentucky, ‘05) by one triple for the Sun Belt Conference all-time record. Senior forward Zandra Emanuel had her best game of the season, scoring eight points and a team-high eight rebounds in a career-high 33 minutes on the court.

Vivian Gray led the way for the Cowgirls as she scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting with six rebounds and three assists. Sophomore guard Braxtin Miller added 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for Oklahoma State.

Both teams struggled offensively early in the game, with Texas State converting only 6-of-30 shots (20 percent) in the entire first half. The Cowgirls weren’t that much better either, shooting 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) to lead the Bobcats by seven (25-18) at halftime.

In the third quarter, both teams started to settle in offensively with the Cowgirls outscoring the Bobcats 23-18. A 7-0 Oklahoma State run gave the Bobcats a daunting 15-point deficit with 4:25 left in the third quarter. Holle scored a three pointer to close the deficit to 12 by the end of the quarter.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, a layup from Leavitt and two more three pointers from Holle cut OSU’s lead to five, the closest the game had been since the Bobcats trailed 25-20 with 9:47 to play before halftime.

The Cowgirls responded with a rally of their own, with Sophomore guard Jaden Hobbs burying a pair of three pointers to push OSU’s lead back to 11 points. Hobbs would later finish the game with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc. The lead wouldn’t fall below nine points for the remainder of the contest.

The Bobcats will return home to Strahan Arena in San Marcos this Tuesday against St. Thomas.

 Featured image by TXST Athletics.