SAN MARCOS, Texas (2/24/22) – Facing a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit on the road at Texas State, the Arkansas State women’s basketball team cut it to four, but couldn’t quite close it, dropping out. a hard-fought 84-75 decision Thursday night at Strahan Arena.
Jireh Washington paced the Red Wolves (11-15, 4-9 SBC) with 25 points on 11 of 15 shooting from the bench, but the Bobcats (14-12, 9-5) rebounded A-State 44-28 and forced 17 takeaways to hold on to the win. Washington also added four rebounds and five assists, but climbed the A-State career rankings in the process, dropping Peyton Martin (2017-21) for 18and all-time career high (1,115 points). She also now ranks eighth all-time in career assists (305), surpassing Jasmine Taylor (2007-11).
A-State shot the ball well at a 51.7 percent clip from 31 of 60 while going 9 of 26 from deep (34.6 percent), but only made nine trips to the foul line, converting on four such attempts (44.4 percent).
Mailyn Wilkerson added 12 of 4 of 9 points from 3-point range while dishing out four under as another double-digit A-State player. Morgane Wallace added nine stitches and nine planks. Trinity Jackson also returned to the floor after missing the last game and a half, scoring nine points in just over 11 minutes of action.
Five Bobcats scored in double figures, led by Da’Nasia Hood’s 25 points. Hood also grabbed seven rebounds and six steals. Lauryn Thompson, Kennedy Taylor and Ja’Kayla Bowie each contributed a dozen, while Sierra Dickson contributed 11. Texas State shot 46.2 percent (30-65) from the field and connected 19 on 24 from the charity stripe (79.2%), but was held to just 5 out of 20 (25.0%) on a 3-point range.
The Bobcats seized the momentum early, leading up to nine midway through the first period, but the Red Wolves didn’t go away. Fueled by nine points each from Wilkerson and Washington, A-State erased that deficit and finished the first quarter with a 13-2 run. A trey beating Washington’s deep buzzer beat the buzzer and capped a 10-0 scoreless run as A-State led 25-21 after one.
A-State held the Bobcats just 6 of 16 from the field (37.5%) in the second, extending their lead to six before the Bobcats went on a 9-2 streak to take a 37- 36. A layup from the glass by Jackson with 50 seconds left in the half finally gave the Red Wolves a halftime lead, edging out Texas State 38-37.
Texas State came out of the gate in the second half and quickly took a three-point lead. After a Kiayra Ellis the jumper cut it to five, a 7-0 Bobcat run cut the deficit to 12 – the biggest of the night. A-State fought back to cut the margin to five on a Wallace hat-trick with 37 seconds left, but Texas State took a 65-58 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Bobcats cut their lead to a dozen to start the fourth, but the Red Wolves didn’t stop recovering. With just under 2 minutes to play, Washington had a steal and scored to reduce it to four. Texas State then scored seven of the final nine runs — five to the charity stripe to close the game.
FOLLOWING
A-State closes its regular season on Saturday, traveling to UT Arlington with a tip at College Park Center scheduled for 2 p.m. /96.9 The Ticket/970 AM.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
For the latest news on the A-State women’s basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while liking the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.
