Marshall Recap
By Ben Anderson, FM88 Sports
Dec. 29, 2024
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Marshall women’s basketball fell victim to cold shooting in the second half Sunday in its Sun Belt Conference opener against Texas State falling 60-48.
Marshall led by as much as 15 in the first half but saw Texas State rally with a 19-point rally in the second half as Marshall shot 20 percent from the field after halftime.
“Obviously that was a heartbreaking and really disappointing game for us,” Marshall head coach Juli Fulks said.
Marshall defensively started the game applying pressure, as the Thundering Herd forced 9 turnovers in the opening quarter.
“I thought we had a really good week of practice,” Fulks said. “The first fifteen minutes of the game, outside of us not shooting well, went per the script and we really understood what we were doing and how we were doing it.”
Marshall’s struggles from shooting were evident early on, as the Herd ended the first quarter converting on just two of its last thirteen shots. The Thundering Herd converted on one out of ten attempts from behind the arc in the opening period.
Marshall led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The 10 points allowed in the second quarter was the second straight game that Marshall allowed 10 or less points in a quarter.
Texas State showed life at the end of the second quarter ending the quarter on a 10-2 run and forcing 4 turnovers in the final two minutes.
“They had a couple runs,” Fulks said. “I probably could go back and could find eight or nine possessions that were just some mental mistakes that we’re a little bit better than.”
The second half became the turnaround for the Bobcats, as Texas State outscored Marshall 37-18, and held Marshall to shooting 4-28 from behind the arc.
“We were 4-28 from the three-point line,” Fulks said. “That’s a key way to score, and we don’t ever want to be a team that lives and dies by the three but when we weren’t getting them to fall today we were struggling a little bit on the boards because we were shooting early and that makes it hard to get the rebounds.”
Texas State took its first lead of the game with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter with a 3-pointer by Takeira Ramey.
“Momentum is a really interesting thing,” Fulks said “When everything’s going your way, you’re willing to attack things. Then as the score got closer, we got a little more nervous. We had some players who had missed a couple shots early and then got a little nervous and they were the right reads and that’s the part that we’re going to keep working at.”
Texas State forced 10 turnovers in the second half resulting in 11 points off turnovers.
With the loss, Marshall fell to 6-6, while Texas State improved to 7-4.
Marshall has the chance to bounce back in its first Sun Belt Conference road trip of the season on Jan. 2, 2025, in Jonesboro, Arkansas against Arkansas State.