Deer's Career Day Pushes TXST Past Texas Tech, 87-70
Lubbock, Texas – The Texas State women's basketball team opened the 2017-18 season with a 87-70 thumping over the Texas Tech Lady Raiders on Sunday afternoon at United Supermarkets Arena.
The Bobcats (1-0) forced the Lady Raiders (0-1) into 20 turnovers, giving Texas State a +13 advantage in the turnover differential. TXST was able to get off to a hot start from the floor and never looked back, making 34-of-65 shots (52.3 percent) for the game. Of the 34 made shots, 17 of them came via the assist as the Bobcats were patient and moved the ball, forcing the Tech defense to move from side-to-side. The strategy led to many defensive breakdowns from TTU that the Bobcats were able to exploit.
The victory was head coach Zenarae Antoine's fifth win in seven season openers at the helm of Texas State. The game marks the first time in 14 tries that Texas State has conquered the Lady Raiders.
Taeler Deer had a career outing, leading the way for the Texas State win. Deer poured in 44 points, tied for the most points ever scored against the Lady Raiders, and the most ever scored in regulation. Carol Ann Shudlick of Minnesota also scored 44 against Tech in an overtime game played in Wichita State, Kan. on December 18, 1993. Deer eclipsed her career-best 32 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the third quarter. The Houston-native carried the Bobcat offense, connecting on 17-of-27 shots, both career highs, and dishing out eight dimes in the contest. The 39 minutes Deer played also established a new career high.
Brooke Holle was dynamic in her starting role for the Bobcats. Holle hit 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers, giving her a career-high 17 points. She was stout on the defensive end, matched against the Red Raiders top scorer from a season ago, Recee' Caldwell. The junior from Tech struggled to get her shot going, hitting on just 5-of-16 from the floor. Holle flustered her all afternoon and was able to collect four steals.
On the glass, Ericka May continued her dominance. In a game in which the Bobcats were severely outmatched in terms of frontcourt size, May was a neutralizing force, ripping down 11 rebounds, nine defensive and two offensive, in the game. She registered three steals in 34 minutes of action.
Freshmen newcomers Chania Wright and Jayla Johnson both provided big moments off of the bench for the Bobcats. Wright made her collegiate debut after being inserted into the lineup in the third quarter. She made her presence felt almost immediately, knocking down a trio of jumpers on five attempts, including a 3-pointer right in front of the Bobcat bench, igniting the visiting bench. Wright finished with seven points. Johnson also connected on a three. Her made bucket came from the top of the key late in the fourth quarter, all but eliminating any hope of a Lady Raider comeback attempt.
In the first half, Taeler Deer was virtually unstoppable. The senior lit up the Lady Raiders for 25 points in the first half, including 16 points in the first quarter. Deer connected on 10-of-13 shots and 2-of-4 from deep. Deer was able to get to the rim at will, creating for herself and her teammates.
Texas State will be on the road again on Wednesday, squaring off with Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the McDermott Center.
Trojans Begin Season With 86-57 Win Over Memphis
LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock never trailed Memphis as it earned an 86-57 win in its 2017-18 season opener on Sunday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center.
Sophomore Kyra Collier led Little Rock (1-0) with 23 points and was 9 for 11 from the field. She earned seven rebounds to go along with six assists.
Freshman Tori Lasker picked up 21 points for Little Rock — the most points by a Little Rock freshman in her first game since the program restarted in 1999. Lasker was 6 for 8 from the field and was a perfect 5 for 5 from beyond the arc. Lasker's point total was just one more than Muci Haris' 20 points in her Trojan debut against Centenary in 1999.
Ronjanae DeGray had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Trojans while Yanina Inkina put up 12 points and two rebounds in her first game as a Trojan. Keanna Keys was the fifth Little Rock player in double figures as she put down 10 points with five rebounds.
Cheyenne Creighton led the Tigers (1-1) with 28 points and came down with six rebounds. She was the only Memphis player in double figures.
Little Rock put up a strong first half as Collier, Lasker and Inkina each had double figures at the break. The Trojans were 7 for 9 from three after the first two quarters and led by as much as 14 points. Little Rock went into the break with a 43-30 lead.
The Trojans kept up the pressure in the second half by outscoring the Tigers 43-27. Little Rock was 17 for 28 in the half and a perfect 7 for 7 from the foul line. Little Rock's lead got up to as much as 32 after Collier made both of her free throws to give the Trojans a 76-44 lead.
Little Rock shot 55.7 percent from the field as it went 34 for 61. The Trojans also shot 69.2 percent from beyond the arc after hitting nine threes on 13 attempts. Little Rock scored 34 points in the paint and 31 points off turnovers.
Little Rock won the rebound battle (27-26) and doubled up on Memphis' assist total (22-11). The Trojans earned 11 steals for the game compared to the Tigers' 4.
With its first win of the year in hand, Little Rock will now face Tulsa on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., at the Jack Stephens Center. Little Rock will be hosting its first-ever School Day with at least 1,000 students from area elementary and middle schools.
Ragin' Cajuns Fall At #20 Texas A&M In Preseason WNIT
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns dropped their Women's National Invitation Tournament second round matchup, 83-62, to the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies, Sunday afternoon here at Reed Arena.
Louisiana fought hard, and the Cajuns were even leading at the end of the first quarter, but the Aggies had too much firepower as they pulled ahead in the second half to come away with the victory.
The loss means the Cajuns will take part in one more game, as they've dropped to the consolation bracket in the WNIT and will have to wait and see who they'll face in their next game.
Freshman Skyler Goodwin, for the second straight game, scored 13 points in the game to lead Louisiana in scoring. Senior Nekia Jones had a great game finishing with 10 points and four assists, while senior Troi Swain added six points and three assists of her own as the Cajuns finished with two more assists then the Aggies on the night (15-13).
HOW IT HAPPENED (First Quarter): The Cajuns came out playing strong defense and they went basket for basket with the Aggies as they came out the gate, and when the fast paced first quarter came to the first media timeout, a Jones three-pointer followed by an Aggies turnover lead to the first media timeout and the score was tied at 12-12.
Jones came out of the break and nailed another three-pointer as the Cajuns went on a run that took them through the remainder of the quarter. A layup from redshirt freshman Danyale Bayonne and two free throws from Swain and Jones helped Louisiana finish the quarter on a 10-0 run.
In the quarter the Cajuns forced the Aggies to commit six turnovers as Louisiana's defense came out firing on all cylinders.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Second Quarter): The Cajuns scored the first basket of the second quarter, a free throw from Jones, pushing their game-best run to 12-0. But the Aggies ended it with a jump shot at 8:54, to put the score at 20-14.
Louisiana held onto to its lead through much of the second quarter, pushing back every time the Aggies started to get closer. But they couldn't hold the lead for the entire quarter, as the Aggies tied it and took the lead at 2:59 with a pair of free throws, making the score 24-23 Aggies.
But Louisiana didn't go away, and they answered back with a Bayonne layup (2:11) followed by a layup, at 1:43, by freshman Ty'Reonne Doucet, keeping the score tied at 27-27. The Aggies took the lead but a big three-point shot from senior Kendra Howard tied it at 30-30 with 48 seconds to go in the half.
Texas A&M then answered back with a three-pointer of their own to take a three-point lead, 33-30, into the half.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Third Quarter): Texas A&M came out and began to slowly pull away, but the Cajuns didn't just lay down and let it happen. For the first two minutes the Cajuns answered every Aggie basket with one of their own keeping it a three-point game at 38-35 as the clock moved past the seven-minute mark.
But a few missed shots from the Cajuns meant that Texas A&M themselves could go on a run 14-4 to end the second quarter and the Aggies went into the fourth quarter with a 59-41 lead.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Fourth Quarter): Howard came out and nailed a three pointer to start the fourth quarter, but the Aggies answered back as they kept control of the game and their lead.
Louisiana tried to get back into it with two baskets, at 8:42 and 8:02, from senior Simone Fields and Goodwin to make the score 61-48, but 13 points is as close the Cajuns would get to the Aggies.
They cut the lead to 13 two more times, first a jumper from sophomore Brittney Myles (6:59) and then less than a minute later, at the 6:18 mark, Jones sunk a free throw to make it 64-51. But from there the Aggies pulled away going on another run to finish the game off before Louisiana could cut it to single digits.
Both the Cajuns and the Aggies made their free throws down the stretch, but due to Texas A&M already in the lead, the Cajuns could never make up the defect as it grew slowly over the final five minutes of the game.
When the final whistle blew, the Cajuns had lost the game, 83-62, but not their pride as they played the Aggies well from start to finish showing they belonged on the big stage in only their second game of the season.
NEXT FOR THE RAGIN' CAJUNS: Louisiana will now have to wait until Tuesday night, when the final round two game is played between Louisville and Toledo, to find out where and who they'll play. The dates will be either Friday, Nov. 17 or Saturday, Nov. 18 and the times and locations will be decided on Tuesday night.
The consolation game will be the final game the Cajuns play in the tournament, win or lose, as they'll have a chance to get one more win in the Preseason WNIT to finish above .500 in the tournament.
NOTEWORTHY: Fields finished with six points giving her 996 career points moving her four points away from 1,000 points in her career, Fields also grabbed five boards; Doucet checked off three firsts tonight, first career points, rebounds and blocks as she finished with five points, five rebounds and two blocks; Bayonne finished with eight points on the night.
Louisiana, for the second straight game, held their opponent to under 40 percent shooting in the first half, as they held New Orleans to 31 percent shooting in their game on Friday, Nov. 10; The Cajuns finished with 15 assists making it the second straight game the Cajuns had double digit assists in a game;
First back-to-back double digit assist games since ULM (13 assists on Mar. 7, 2017) and Texas State (15 assists on Mar. 9, 2017); those two games was at the tail end of eight straight games from Feb. 11-Mar. 9, 2017 where the Cajuns had double digit assists.
Mountaineers Upended at Radford
RADFORD, Va. - A fourth-quarter surge from Radford (1-0) doomed App State women's basketball (0-2) in a 61-40 setback on Sunday afternoon in the Dedmon Center.
Bayley Plummer led the team with 11 points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds, giving the sophomore her first double-double of the season and the third of her career. The Thomasville, N.C. native stepped up in the second half where she scored 10 of her 11 points in the stanza and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field after missing all four of her shots in the first half.
LaPresha Stanley had an efficient performance with eight points on 4-for-6 shooting and five rebounds, while Tierra Wilson also turned in eight points. Lainey Gosnell contributed seven points off the bench to lead the reserves, which was a season high for the first-year Mountaineer.
The Mountaineers gave the Preseason Big South favorites all they could handle until Radford's 23-6 run over the final 7:49 of the contest helped the hosts pull away. Radford shot 58.8 percent in the fourth quarter alone while entering the fourth quarter, the Apps held RU to just 30 percent shooting from the floor.
It was a low-scoring affair in the first half where each team shot below 33 percent. Trailing 7-1 in the opening frame, App State scored six of the next 10 points to go into the second period with a four-point deficit, 11-7.
Trailing 12-7 in the second frame, Nicola Mathews sparked a 10-2 run over a 2:48 span with five-straight points before back-to-back layups from Stanley and Gosnell capped off the spark to give App a 17-14 edge. With the momentum shifted to the Black and Gold, Radford would respond with a run of its own over the last 6:26 of the first half to retake the lead at four points. 22-18.
Despite a Jen Falconer 3-pointer that extended RU's lead to seven in the opening minutes of the third frame, 25-18, the Mountaineers fought back to tie up the contest at 29-29 with 4:25 left in the quarter. Plummer and Wilson spearheaded the surge with all nine of App State's points during a 9-4 spark.
Once again the Highlanders answered scoring seven of the next points to go into the final frame with a 36-30 lead. Appalachian dwindled the deficit to four points, 38-34, with 7:49 left in the game. Although the Highlanders showed why they have won 17 games in a row at home with the late surge it needed to clinch the win.
Appalachian will look to rebound on Wednesday against former SoCon rival, ETSU on Wednesday at 6 p.m. inside the Holmes Center.
Tip-Ins
- Through the first two games of the season, Plummer is averaging 12.5 rebounds per game
- The trio of Plummer, Stanley and Mathews shot a combined 11-for-18 from the floor and 24 points