Lady Demons lose late lead in falling to Texas State, 73-69
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
NATCHITOCHES - Janesha Washington came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points and Texas State rallied from a 7-point deficit late in the second half as the Bobcats outlasted Northwestern State, 73-69, in the Southland Conference opener for both teams Thursday night.
The loss was the sixth-straight for NSU, who fell to 4-10 on the season - the worst start in school history. Texas State (8-7) snaps a two-game losing streak.
"We weren`t able to execute when we needed to down the stretch," said Lady Demon head coach Jennifer Graf. "It really should have never been close had we run our offense and not turned the ball over so much."
Northwestern committed a season-worst 28 turnovers as the two teams combined for 53 errors.
Chassidy Jones led the Lady Demons in scoring for the fifth-consecutive game as she sank 19 points to go along with eight rebounds. Tena Matthews added 16 points while Ashli Barnum, who fouled out with eight-and-a-half minutes to play, finished with 10 points.
Texas State carried a 27-25 lead into the half and led 29-25 early in the second when NSU put together an 8-0 run to go up 33-29 with 17:01 to play.
The Bobcats regained the lead at 36-35 on a layup by Brooke DeGrate with 15:21 to play. The Lady Demons then got three-straight buckets from Jones to put NSU up 41-36 with 13:52 to play, but Texas State wouldn`t falter as the Bobcats tied the game at 41-all with 12:25 to go.
There would be three lead changes and three ties over the next three minutes until NSU broke a 46-all tie with a 7-0 run to go up 54-47 with 7:21 to play.
The Bobcats took advantage of Lady Demon turnovers and chipped away at the lead until taking control of the game for good on a jumper by Washington to give Texas State a 66-65 lead with 1:40 to play.
"You can`t have 28 turnovers in a game and expect to win," said Graf. "We also didn`t do a good job on the offensive end. We took too many shots when we didn`t have anyone underneath the goal. Just not good execution."
The Lady Demons will stay at home for a Saturday contest against Texas-Arlington, a 74-43 winner over Central Arkansas on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Prather Coliseum.
Texas State vs Northwestern State
1/4/07 6:30 at Natchitoches, La. (Prather Coliseum)
At Natchitoches, La. (Prather Coliseum)
TEXAS STATE 73, NORTHWESTERN STATE 69
TEXAS STATE (8-6 (1-0))
Washington, Janesha 8-12 6-8 24; Ekworomadu, Joyce 4-12 8-12 17; Putnam,
Erica 3-6 3-6 9; DeGrate, Brooke 3-6 1-2 7; Bradford, Ryann 3-6 0-0 7;
Potts, Zenetta 1-1 1-2 3; Moser, Marie 1-1 0-1 2; Hilburn, Aimee 1-3 0-0 2;
Banks, Ashley 0-1 2-2 2; Riley, Ashley 0-3 0-0 0; Wright, Elyse 0-1 0-1 0.
Totals 24-52 21-34 73.
NORTHWESTERN STATE (4-10 (0-1))
Jones, Chassidy 8-20 3-5 19; Matthews, Tena 6-12 2-2 16; Barnum, Ashli 4-7
2-2 10; Kennedy, Shonte 3-10 2-3 8; Knox, Dorothy 1-2 2-2 5; Isom, Natasha
0-2 3-4 3; Givens, Akilah 1-1 0-0 3; Williams, Tweet 1-3 0-0 3; Gertonson,
Brette 1-4 0-0 2; Isom, Brittaney 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 14-18 69.
Texas State................... 27 46 - 73
Northwestern State............ 25 44 - 69
3-point goals-Texas State 4-10 (Washington, Janesha 2-3; Bradford, Ryann
1-1; Ekworomadu, Joyce 1-4; Wright, Elyse 0-1; Putnam, Erica 0-1),
Northwestern State 5-12 (Matthews, Tena 2-3; Knox, Dorothy 1-1; Givens,
Akilah 1-1; Williams, Tweet 1-1; Kennedy, Shonte 0-3; Jones, Chassidy 0-3).
Fouled out-Texas State-None, Northwestern State-Barnum, Ashli.
Rebounds-Texas State 36 (Ekworomadu, Joyce 11), Northwestern State 38
(Jones, Chassidy 8; Matthews, Tena 8). Assists-Texas State 12 (Banks, Ashley
3; Ekworomadu, Joyce 3), Northwestern State 16 (Kennedy, Shonte 6). Total
fouls-Texas State 19, Northwestern State 27. A-620
