Prior to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Eagle Nation had good reason to believe the Lady Eagles could finally capture a postseason victory as a member of the Sun Belt.

However, when Friday’s first round matchup against Texas State tipped off, this hope was quickly dashed.

From the beginning, the Lady Bobcats dominated the game. After scoring the game’s first basket, GS never held another lead.

A feisty Bobcat defense forced 18 first half turnover, which was the catalyst in holding the Lady Eagles to just 17 first half points.

“I thought they came out with a lot of intensity and with our young group we just weren’t really prepared for it to be so intense that early,” said head coach Anita Howard.

The Texas State offense was firing on all cylinders the entire game. The Lady Bobcats finished shooting 54% from the field in addition to 47% from three-point range and 88% from the charity stripe.

Ja’Kayla Bowie and Da’Nasia Hood scored 19 points a piece for the Bobcats. Lauryn Thompson and Kennedy Taylor also eclipsed double digits in what was a true team effort.

For the Eagles, the shots just would not fall. Despite shooting nearly 30% from three-point throughout the regular season, the Lady Eagle shot just 2-13 (13%) from long range against the Bobcats.

Daeja Holmes and Tatum Barber finished with 12 points each, while Sarah Moore also eclipsed double digits with 10 points of her own.

Despite the disappointing finish, the future of the Georgia Southern women’s basketball program is very much headed in the right direction.

A young core consisting of six freshmen and four sophomores will only get better as they garner valuable experience.

“For us to keep on competing when we’re down by a large deficit really shows that we dow have fighters in this locker room and we’ll be alright in the future,” said Howard as she admired the fight in her team.