San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
No. 1 seed Texas State bounced from Sun Belt tourney
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Texas State men's basketball shot its secondlowest field goal percentage of the season while Louisiana's Jordan Brown scored a career-high 31 points as the No. 1 seed Bobcats lost 79-72 to the Ragin' Cajuns in the 2022 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship quarterfinals on Saturday at the Pensacola Bay Center.
The Bobcats (21-7, 12-3 Sun Belt) shot 35.8 percent from the field (24-of-67) and 35 percent from three (7-of-20). In the first half, Texas State was 8-of-29 shooting (27.6 percent) and had an eightminute stretch in which it did not register a field goal.
The loss snapped Texas State's season-long nine-game winning streak.
Despite the exit from the Sun Belt Championship, the Bobcats will compete in the NIT for the first time in program history after receiving an auto-bid for winning the conference regular season title. They will find out their fate for the opening round of the postseason tournament on Sunday, March 13. First round of the NIT will be March 15-16.
The No. 8 seed Ragin' Cajuns (15-14, 8-9 Sun Belt) outrebounded Texas State, 45-33, and led by as much as 16 in the second half.
Brown was 12-of-20 shooting as his 31 points were the most by an opponent this season. He had 19 points in the second half.
While Louisiana only had two players in double-figures for scoring, Texas State had four, led by Mason Harrell's 16. Fellow seniors Caleb Asberry (15), Isiah Small (14) and Shelby Adams (11) joined Harrell.
Women
TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 60 INCARNATE WORD 55
Alecia Westbrook had 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Islanders
held off the Cardinals at McDermott Center.
Jaaucklyn Moore led the Cardinals with 18 points.
UIW (9-16, 5-9 Southland) led 49-48 midway through the fourth quarter before the Islanders (19-9, 11-3) pulled away.
RICE 86, UTSA 48
Maya Bokunewicz had 26 points, including seven threepointers, plus 10 rebounds, Ashlee Austin scored 21 points with four three-points and Malia Fisher scored 13 points as the Owls crushed the Roadrunners at Tudor
Fieldhouse in Houston.
The Owls (13-12, 8-9 Conference USA) finished with 14 three-pointers.
Elyssa Coleman scored 15 points for UTSA (6-22, 3-14). LaPraisjah Johnson contributed nine points and six rebounds for the Roadrunners.
Destiny Jackson had nine points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Owls.
The Roadrunners return to action March 8 at the conference tournament.
NO. 9 TEXAS 65 OKLAHOMA ST. 50
Senior Lauren Ebo scored a career-best 17 points and Rori Harmon added 13 along and four steals to help the Longhorns extend their winning streak to eight games in the final regular season game at the 45-year-old Frank Erwin Center.
Texas (23-6, 13-5 Big 12) finished the regular season with those eight straight wins after losing three in a row, including two to No. 5 Baylor.
Harmon left the game after taking a shot to the face early in the fourth quarter.
She returned less than five minutes later but left again after a brief appearance. Athletic trainers appeared to be stretching her leg while Harmon was out the first time.
Lexy Keys and Lauren Fields scored 10 apiece to lead Oklahoma State (8-19, 3-15), which finished the regular season with five straight defeats.
TRINITY 61, HARDIN-SIMMONS 57
Maggie Robbins had 17 points and Maggie Shipley scored 15 as the Tigers edged the Cowgirls in the first round of the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament on Friday night at the Mabee Complex in Abilene.
The Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead before the Cowgirls picked up the pace and held Trinity to 2-of-12 shooting to get back in the game.
Hallie Edmondson gave HardinSimmons its first lead with a threepoint with 21 seconds go go in the half. The game was tied at 27 at halftime.
Trinity used a 7-1 run to close the third quarter to take a 44-38 lead into the final period. Robbins gave the Tigers a 56-52 on a backdoor lay-up with :57 to play and the Tigers were able to make enough free throws to close out the game.
Edmondson led the Cowgirls with 18 points and Kiki Gonzales added 10 points off the bench.
HSU closes its season with a record of 21-5. Trinity improved to 26-2 on the year and was scheduled to play Whitman Saturday night for the right to go to the NCAA Sectional.