NEW ORLEANS - Sun Belt Women's Basketball Player of the Year, Taeler Deer, scored 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting in a 78-69 Texas State win over Coastal Carolina in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Women's Basketball tournament on Thursday.

Deer added nine assists and six rebounds in the win for the Bobcats. Toshua Leavitt poured in 18 points on a 4-of-14 effort, three of which from beyond the arc.

The Bobcats (22-8) will face the winner of Thursday night's final quarterfinal between No. 3 UTA and No. 6 Louisiana.

Ti'Aria Pitts scored 17 for the Bobcats with five three-pointers and Brooke Holle added 11 as four Bobcats finished in double-digits for Texas State.

The loss drops Coastal Carolina to 17-14 on the year, the best single-season under head coach Jaida Williams.

Texas State forced 18 Chanticleer turnovers that led to 28 Bobcat points.

Jas Adams led the way for the Chanticleers with 22 points and nine assists. Alise Davis chipped in 13 off the bench in 14 minutes.

Texas State Notes
• Taeler Deer’s 22 points pushed her to the tenth spot in single-season scoring (518).
• After shooting 27 percent from behind the arc, the Bobcats move to 3-5 when Toshua Leavitt shoots below 30 percent from three.
• The Bobcats have not lost a game that didn’t stretch into overtime since January 20.
• TXSU is undefeated this season when it scores 70 or more points (12-0).
• The Bobcats have yet to lose this season when they have four players in double figures.

Coastal Carolina Notes
• Jas Adams’ nine assists were a career high.
• Jas Adams’s 582 points is the fifth-highest single-season scoring total in Coastal Carolina history.
• Coastal Carolina’s last two losses to Texas State have had the exact same score (78-69).
• Coastal Carolina’s 19 assists were a season high.
• After hitting only five three-pointers, the Chants move to 7-12 on the season when they hit five threes or less.

Quotes

Texas State Head Coach Zenarae Antoine

Opening Statement:
“Hello everyone, what a heartfelt battle fought by both teams.  Just watching the Sun Belt games, I’m not going to lie, I’ve been on my ESPN Watch watching all of these games.  There have been some really good matchups, it’s been a lot of fun to watch and tonight was no different.  I think our players clearly understood that we split with Coastal during the regular season.  We had the opportunity to beat them at home, and this was a team that were going to come in, they were not going to stop, and they were going to fight their battle.  Jaida did a great job with their team preparing them.  They showed us a different look defensively that, we’re always prepared, but that wasn’t what I thought we were going to see.  We were able to kind of open it up, but we weren’t able to get the stops that we needed, ultimately in the first two quarters, but then as the game progressed, my kids found a way.  And I think that’s the story of March Madness, just finding a way, when everything’s on the line, to be the team that perseveres, and our team persevered today.”

On being a balanced team with four players that scored in double-digits:
“I think it comes from a number of different things.  The young women that are recruited at Texas State, we really do look for young women that have the ability to score.  People always ask, does so-and-so have the green light, and I always tell them that everyone has the green light on our team.  We do a good job of teaching shot selection.  Shot selection is really important to us, so any time a young woman is allowed to shoot the shot without having any stress or fear of a repercussion of taking a shot, so I don’t think that what we see is any different from what we see in most games where we have three or four kids scoring double digits, as well as Taeler Deer doing what Taeler Deer does, and she had nine assists today.  I mean, if you add that into her scoring average, this young woman is really able to help our team out.  Not only does she demand that people guard her, but she’s also great as well and her teammates are able to knock down big shots, and so I think that’s the balance you find from our offensive standpoint.”

 On Jas Adams and DJ Williams’ role in the game:
“When she got into foul trouble, I said alright this is going to play into our hands, but it didn’t play into our hands.  We went into halftime down, and then when we came out, I’m not quite sure why it was that she didn’t seek the minutes that she did, that she generally commands, but I’m not going to say that I wasn’t excited that we didn’t have to contend with that woman.  She’s a special kid, she’s only a sophomore, so I really look for her to be a big player for them in the future.  Any time though that she’s not “on”, it really takes the stress off your defense because she really does a good job of aiding Jas and their ability to score.  She’s really able to draw defenses up the lane and get a lot of dump passes to their bigs, and her not being involved in that way was critical, and I think that we were able to mix it up with the matchups.  Brooke Hollee was predominantly guarding her.  She did a pretty darn good job tonight.”

Coastal Carolina Head Coach Jaida Williams

Opening Statement:
“Texas State played a phenomenal game.  I thought they did a great job capitalizing off of our miscues today.  Really proud of some of our younger players for stepping up.  Alise Davis did a phenomenal job for us, and of course, I can’t say enough about Jas Adams – I think she has led her team for the entire year the way that any coach would love – and she continued to do that for us tonight.  Though we came up short, I think our young players got some great experience.

On them answering every move in the fourth quarter.
When we talk about the game of basketball, it’s always going to be a game of runs.  Every time we hit, they hit back.  And then toward the very, very end of the game when we got the foul trying to break up the transition basket, I think that’s kind of where the momentum unraveled for us. 

On DJ Williams foul troubles affecting minutes:
“DJ (Williams) was excited and fired up to play this game. We switched up some things, defensively, and got in some early foul trouble. It’s hard for her sometimes to get into a flow and it was tonight. Kaylin West stepped in for her and did a great job for her, I thought. I thought Mery Visone did a great job for her as well.”

On the potential to contend for a championship a year from now:
“I think our young players got some great experience here. I think they are tough and I think they are hungry based on what I saw in that locker room after the game. They’re hungry and they are going to continue to get better. I am very blessed to coach this group of kids. I think they understand what it takes to get this far, but this isn’t as far as we need to go. We want to be in the NCAA tournament. That was our goal coming into today. We knew that if we could get this game that we would have a really good shot at the NCAA tournament. That’s going to be our goal from here on out.”