Texas State notebook: Bobcats enter Sun Belt women's basketball tournament in strong shape
SAN MARCOS — Texas State's women’s basketball team secured a share of the Sun Belt's regular-season championship as well as the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament with last Friday's 86-79 win over Arkansas State.
The Bobcats (21-8, 13-5 Sun Belt) split the championship with the top seed, James Madison (23-7, 13-5), and the No. 3 seed, Southern Miss (20-9, 13-5). With all three having identical conference records, James Madison was awarded the top seed after beating Texas State (58-54 on Feb. 16) and Southern Miss (63-58 on Jan. 7). Texas State earned the second spot with two wins over Southern Miss — 62-52 in overtime on Jan. 28 and 69-52 on Feb. 9. The Golden Eagles haven't lost since, taking a five-game winning streak into the tournament.
As the second seed, the Bobcats will receive a two-round bye into the quarterfinals, giving the team a week off until its next game this Friday in Pensacola, Fla. The tournament begins Tuesday.
The co-championship is the first Sun Belt championship of any kind for women’s basketball and third overall for the program, with Southland Conference titles in 1997 and 2003. It's the first conference championship for 12th-year head coach Zenarae Antoine, who is Texas State’s all-time winningest coach with a 185-176 record.
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This was Texas State's second time to win 20 games and be the No. 2 seed under Antoine. Her 2018 Bobcats also were 21-8 heading into the conference tournament and fell in the championship game 54-53 to Arkansas-Little Rock. Texas State ended up in the women's NIT and fell to Rice in the first round.
Men’s basketball: Texas State (13-18, 6-12) finished the regular season with a losing record for the first time since the Bobcats went 15-18 in 2017-18. The Bobcats enter the tournament as the No. 11 seed having lost their last two games. Texas State opens with No. 14 seed Georgia State (10-20) in the first round on Tuesday.
Baseball: After opening the season with a sweep of Northwestern by scoring 56 runs in three games, Texas State lost its next series, dropping two of three games to Oral Roberts; the Bobcats won 3-2 on Friday, then lost 6-3 on Saturday and 8-4 on Sunday. They play at Incarnate Word on Tuesday.
Softball: Texas State (12-4) went 6-0 in the TXST Classic, beating UTSA 1-0 and UT-Arlington 4-3 last Thursday, then beating Kansas 2-1 and Colorado State 4-1 on Friday. The Bobcats edged UT-Arlington again 6-5 on Saturday before wrapping up with a 4-3 win over Colorado State again on Sunday. Texas State plays at Winthrop on Thursday.
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Football: Texas State's 2023 scheduled has been finalized. After starting the season with four nonconference games (at Baylor on Sept. 2, at UTSA on Sept. 9, then hosting Jackson State on Sept. 16 and Nevada on Sept. 23), the Sun Belt schedule begins at Southern Miss on Sept. 30 followed by a game at Louisiana on Oct. 7. Texas State then hosts three consecutive home games (Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 14, Troy on Oct. 28 and Georgia Southern on Nov. 5) with a bye week on Oct. 21. After two road games at Coastal Carolina (Nov. 11) and Arkansas State (Nov. 18), the Bobcats conclude the season at home against South Alabama on Nov. 25.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas State women's basketball team seeded No. 2 in Sun Belt tourney
