Texas State Clips Cardinals 67-50
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Whitney Apari scored seven of the first nine points in an 18-0 Bobcat run at the start of the fourth quarter to break open a close contest against Incarnate Word. Texas State would go on to claim its first victory of the season by a 67-50 margin Tuesday evening inside Strahan Coliseum.

Texas State improves its record to 1-1 on the young season and pushes head coach Zenarae Antoine’s win streak in home openers to a perfect 6-0. Incarnate Word falls to 0-2 with the loss.

The Bobcats were led by Apari’s career-high 16 points on 7-of-10 from the floor, including a three. Taeler Deer also reached double-figures with her 12 points, which included two 3-pointers. Ericka May again led TXST in the rebounding category with 11. Texas State closed the contest shooting 42.2 percent (27-64) overall and 30.8 percent from deep (4-13). The Bobcats also won the battle on the boards 41-35.

Incarnate Word, which shot 35.8 percent (19-53) from the floor, was led offensively by Celia Garcia Paunero’s 19-point, 13-rebound double-double. Imani Robinson and Melina Merritt each scored 10 for the Cardinals.

The Bobcats shot 50 percent (6-12) in the first quarter, while limiting the Cardinals 35.7 percent (5-14) to take a 15-10 lead after 10 minutes of play. Toshua Leavitt opened the game’s scoring with a 19-footer from the left wing. Minutes later with the score at 10-8 in TXST’s favor, Ti’Aira Pitts connected on her first triple of the season and after a Robinson bucket for the visitors, Leavitt closed the stanza’s scoring with a pair at the free-throw line.

Both teams started the second quarter cold as each side only hit a single 3-pointer in the quarter’s first five minutes, but combined for 15 empty possessions. May the Bobcats’ near seven-minute scoring drought with a jumper at the 3:31 mark. Pitts followed on the Bobcats’ next possession with a jumper of her own for a 22-15 Texas State lead. An Apari free throw and a fourth Pitts score kept the Cardinals at bay and ushered the Bobcats to the intermission with a 25-20 lead.

Scoring picked up in the third quarter as UIW used an 8-4 run to close within a bucket of the Bobcats at 29-27, forcing a Texas State timeout. Shortly after the break Deer scored on a fast break layup and Apari followed with a free-throw line jumper two possessions late, pushing Texas State up 33-27. Zandra Emanuel scored for of the Bobcats’ final 10 points in the frame, allowing UIW no closer than four as the third quarter drew to a close with Texas State up 43-39.

Two Apari scores bookended a Kiani Lurry layup as Texas State turned its four-point lead into 10 in the opening 1:20 of the fourth quarter. A minute later Apari sank a 3-pointer and Deer followed with a jumper, giving the Bobcats a 54-39 lead. Texas State would extend its run to 18-0 before UIW’s Robinson scored the Cardinal’s first point of the period on a free throw with 3:14 to play.

Texas state continues its three-game home stand Friday, hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The opening tip is set for 7 p.m.

Chants Down NC Central in Home Opener
CONWAY - Naheria Hamilton recorded Coastal Carolina's first double-double of the season, and three other Chants reached double figures in scoring as the women's basketball team won its season home opener, 66-50, over North Carolina Central Tuesday night at the HTC Center.

Rachael Gregory led Coastal (1-1) in scoring with 17 points and, for the second straight game, missed a double-double opportunity by one rebound. Gregory's nine boards followed only the 11 of Hamilton, who added 10 points for her first career double-double in only her second game in a Chanticleer uniform.

Jas Adams finished second in scoring with 12 points, and Yasmin Miller rounded out Coastal's double figure scorers with 11 points, eight of which came in the first half.

NCCU's (0-2) Morgan Jones led the game with 18 points, finishing 7-of-20 from the floor with four 3-pointers. The next closest Eagle was Dominique Adams with nine points.

NCCU scored the opening points just 35 second into the game to take its only lead of the night. That lead was quickly erased, however, as Coastal scored 13 straight to stake a comfortable 11-point lead midway through the opening quarter. The Chants continued to build their lead over the opening 10 minutes, eventually doubling-up NCCU, 22-11, to go into the second.

Coastal appeared to be in full control of the game after scoring the first five points of the second quarter to lead 27-11, but NCCU used a 12-2 run to close out the half and trim the Chants' advantage to six points at the break.

The NCCU run carried into the second half as the Eagles got the first two baskets to trim the scoring margin to two points, the lowest since the first quarter. Coastal then rallied, going 5-of-12 from the field and hitting all six free throw attempts to outscore the Eagles 18-14 in the third.

The Chants finished the game on a high note, shooting 66.7 percent from the field as they retook a double-figure scoring advantage.

Coastal begins a two-game road swing this Saturday when it travels to Marshall for a 1 p.m. tip at the Cam Henderson Center.

Turnovers Haunt Warhawks on Tuesday Night
MONROE, La. – Despite taking a 10-point lead to the locker room at halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer, the ULM women’s basketball team’s offense came to a standstill in the third quarter, allowing visiting Grambling to hand the Warhawks a 59-54 defeat on Tuesday night.

THE TURNING POINT
ULM shot just 4-of-15 in the third quarter (26.7 percent), while Grambling erased the halftime deficit by shooting 47 percent (8-of-17) in the quarter and outscored the Warhawks 22-10 in the period. The teams’ third quarter shooting percentages nearly flipped from the second half numbers – ULM knocked down 41 percent of its shots in the second quarter (compared to Grambling’s 25 percent) to take the 10-point advantage into the locker room.

Tied at 48-all with 7:38 to play, Grambling closed the game on an 11-6 run as ULM was able to tally just four points over the final 2:15 of action.

NOTABLES
-Stephanie Ratliff finished with the game’s only double-double in the loss, notching 16 rebounds and 14 points before fouling out in the final minute. The senior filled her final stat line, adding two blocks and two steals in 32 minutes of action in addition to her double-double numbers.

-Alexis Collins played all 40 minutes for ULM, also finishing with 14 points, as she tallied a 5-for-10 shooting night from the floor. Two of Collins’ buckets came from three-point range, and she added two rebounds and two assists from her guard position.

-The Warhawks finished the night with 27 turnovers as a team, which turned into 21 Grambling points off those miscues.

-ULM’s 10-point halftime lead turned out to be its biggest advantage of the night, while Grambling led by as many as 12 during the first quarter. The game was tied at seven different points, but the lead only changed four times during the night.

-ULM outrebounded Grambling by a 50-39 overall margin, pulling down 32 defensive rebounds (64 percent).

-Grambling finished with a final shooting percentage of 34.4 percent (22-of-64 from the floor) and ULM connected at a 33.3 percent clip (20-of-60) while both sides hit five three-point attempts (ULM 5-for-27, Grambling 5-of-14).

-As a team, ULM finished with more points in the paint (28-24), more second chance points (18-15) and more points from its bench (15-10) than Grambling. Grambling controlled two key stats – total turnovers (15 compared to ULM’s 27) and points off turnovers (21-11 advantage.

Grambling’s Shakyla Hill (19 points) and Jazmin Boyd (16 points) were the game’s high scores, while Jazmine Torian pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the visitors.