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 could not quite close it out, dropping 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 off the bench, but the Bobcats (14-12, 9-5) out-rebounded A-State 44-28 and forced 17 takeaways to hold onto the victory. Washington also added four rebounds and five assists, but moved up in the A-State career charts in the process, passing Peyton Martin (2017-21) for 18th all-time in career scoring (1,115 points). She also now ranks eighth all-time in career assists (305), passing Jasmine Taylor (2007-11).
A-State shot the ball well at a 51.7 percent clip of 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 of those attempts (44.4 percent).
Mailyn Wilkerson added 12 points on 4-of-9 from 3-point range while dishing out four dimes as the other A-State player in double figures. Morgan Wallace added nine points and nine boards. Trinitee 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 thefts. Lauryn Thompson, Kennedy Taylor and Ja'Kayla Bowie each contributed a dozen, while Sierra Dickson chipped in 11. Texas State shot 46.2 percent (30-65) from the field and connected on 19-of-24 from the charity stripe (79.2 percent), but was held to just 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) from 3-point range.
The Bobcats seized early momentum, leading by as much as nine midway through the first period, but the Red Wolves did not go away. Fueled by nine points apiece from Wilkerson and Washington, A-State erased that deficit and ended the opening quarter with a 13-2 run. A deep buzzer-beating trey by Washington beat the buzzer and capped a 10-0 scoreless run as A-State led 25-21 after one.
A-State held the Bobcats to just 6-of-16 from the field (37.5 percent) in the second, stretching its lead out to six before the Bobcats went on a 9-2 stretch to take a 37-36 lead. A layup off the glass by Jackson with 50 seconds remaining in the half ultimately gave the Red Wolves a halftime lead, edging Texas State 38-37.
Texas State came out of the gate in the second half and quickly took a three-score lead. After a Kiayra Ellis jumper cut it to five, a 7-0 Bobcat run pushed the deficit back up to 12 – the largest of the night. A-State battled back to trim the margin down to five on a trey by Wallace with 37 seconds left, but Texas State took a 65-58 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Bobcats pushed their lead back out to a dozen to start the fourth, but the Red Wolves did not stop clawing back. With just under 2 minutes left, Washington swiped a steal and scored to cut it to four. Texas State then scored seven of the last nine points – five at the charity stripe to close it out.
NEXT UP
A-State closes out its regular season Saturday, traveling to UT Arlington with tip at the College Park Center set for 2 p.m. The game can be viewed live on ESPN+ while the radio broadcast can be heard on the EAB Red Wolves Sports Network flagship station 95.3/96.9 The Ticket/970 AM.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For the latest on the A-State women's basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team's Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.
