Texas State suffers third consecutive loss, falling 62-39 to Dartmouth

Texas State head coach Zenarae Antoine knew Dartmouth would be hungry for a win.

The Big Green hadn’t won any of their first 10 games of the season. Dartmouth lost 49-39 at UTSA on Monday — a team Texas State beat by 14 points on Nov. 18.

The Bobcats still seemed caught off guard by the visitors’ energy on Thursday when the Big Green took on the maroon and gold inside Strahan Arena. Dartmouth stifled Texas State’s offense all night, taking a commanding 62-39 win.

“We're playing against a team that hadn't won a game,” Antoine said. “And we talked about that, we hit it head-on, it's not anything that you can hide. And so if we were going to give them any kind of space and opportunity, they're going to start knocking down shots. And that's what they did.”

Forwards Da’Nasia Hood and Lauryn Thompson returned to action after both missed Monday’s game against UTEP. But both also came off the bench and played limited minutes.

Senior forward Jaeda Reed, who stabilized the Bobcats’ offense against the Miners with a career-high 19 points, was held in check by Dartmouth’s defense with just six points on 2-7 shooting. No one else got going for the hosts, either.

Texas State (5-5) struggled with taking care of the ball, committing 21 turnovers throughout the game, which the Big Green (1-10) scored 10 points off of. The team’s defense didn’t fare much better, allowing eight 3-pointers, resulting in a 35-21 deficit at halftime.

“I think that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we didn't really get that many stops,” senior guard Kennedy Taylor said. “So I think as a team, we feed off of our defensive energy. So I think that was just kind of hard for us.”

“Defense gets us going,” graduate forward Gabby Standifer said. “And on offense, I think when we're coming back from behind, we have a tendency to just not take our time and value the possessions. And that's like never good to do, especially when you're down.”

Standifer provided a spark in the second half. Taylor found Standifer on three consecutive possessions at the start of the third quarter, and the forward knocked down her shots all three times — one from the middle of the floor and two from behind the 3-point line.

Dartmouth called timeout at the 7:11 mark with its lead down to 40-29. The Bobcats wouldn’t score again until Taylor made a pair of free throws with 1:33 remaining in the third quarter. They wouldn’t make another field goal until the 3:15 mark of the fourth quarter.

Standifer’s eight points led the team in the 62-39 loss, followed by Reed, Thompson and sophomore guard Presley Bennett with six points each. It ends a 128-game streak for Texas State of having at least one double-digit scorer.

“I'm obviously disappointed,” Antoine said. “I tried some different things there towards the end to get the team going and it never really got them going. I think what's surprising was just how much we turned the basketball over in this game. We don't turn the ball over that way. And they really capitalized on those turnovers and second-chance opportunities. And you know, my hat's off to them for that. But that's something that, you know, is not necessary like us.”

The Bobcats are now on a three-game losing streak. They’ll finish their non-conference play on the road next week, taking on Loyola Marymount (3-5) on Saturday and San Diego (7-2) on Tuesday, both games tipping off at 4 p.m.

“I think we just need to get back to playing Texas State basketball,” Standifer said. “And it starts with defense, honestly. Like, since the UTSA game, I feel like that was when we were really aggressive and it was just going. So I think just finding a way to get back there and like, we know what that feels like.”