Arkansas State’s Women’s basketball team won in a hard-fought battle Saturday defeating Texas State. This game was a rematch from Jan. 8th at San Marcos where the Red Wolves won 66-50.

The Red Wolves winning streak at home extended to 10 games in a row. The Lady Wolves won their final home game of the season. Senior night was celebrated to recognize all senior contributions to the team. Six of A-State’s basketball players played in their final game as Red Wolves. 

The Red Wolves have won 13 straight conference games totaling to a 13-1 conference record. The Red Wolves completed back to back sweeps against Texas State for the first time since the 2015-2016 season.

The Red Wolves never trailed in this game, but they did get off to a slow start. They struggled at first, shooting 39% from the field and 13 % from 3 point range with 13 turnovers at half. 

Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

“I thought we played terribly offensively, and I felt we did not even score that much, so when I look at this and see we scored 20 in the third, 20 in the fourth it did not seem like that because of the flow of it,” Rogers said

 In the second half the energy was flipped and the Red Wolves shot much more efficiently, got more defensive stops and got to the free throw line more effectively.

Guard Zyion Shannon was a major weapon for A-State in the game, leading all scorers with 16 points, 3 steals and a block. Kennedie Montue was also a big factor for the Red Wolves totaling a double-double 11 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal. Montue was plus 12 on the floor.

“We were just missing so many shots. But we hang our hat on our defense, and when we get stops, we know that we can find a way to score. We don’t get to our offense without our defense. So everything that we do is about our defense, we still scored 72 points” Rogers said.

In  the second half, the Red Wolves were able to build an  offensive rhythm. They dominated behind the arc, shooting 7 of 14 from three. On defense they forced a total of 8 second half turnovers, 4 blocks and 4 steals. 

Montue was able to hit clutch shots down the stretch in the 4th quarter to help Arkansas State secure the win.

“I can’t do what I do without my teammates, but when it came down to that last 5 minute mark Dez just looked at me in my eyes and I was like alright, Let me just lock in for these last couple of minutes and that’s what I did” Montue said.

Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

Shannon also shared her thoughts on senior day, and how she has been processing playing with the veterans on the team. 

“Shout out to my teammates for finding me. I mean, I can’t do no without them finding me. I  knew since the summer, we were, like, gonna be very close. And I don’t know this team is just really, like, special to me, like they really just hold a place in my heart. And yeah, it was, it was very emotional and very emotional like this,” Shannon said.

 Rogers describes how they used the preseason rankings, in which the Red Wolves were predicted to finish at the bottom end of the conference, to motivate the team to beat the odds, and show people who this team really is.

“God is good. I mean, that’s I’m gonna keep coming back to that, because sometimes things have to fall apart for things to come back together, and you don’t know it in those moments, but I think that my eyes were open whenever I saw this team practice for the first time, and I saw how together they were.”

Coach Rogers said the chemistry between the team gave her confidence in how far her team could go.

I saw how together they were from the jump, and whenever it got released, and I saw that we were 13, I told them at the beginning of practice, and I just saw the looks on their faces like, Okay, we never talked about it again after that”  Rogers said.

The Red Wolves have won 13 consecutive games in conference play, marking the longest streak since the 2015-2016 season.

A-State will go on the road Feb. 20 for their next game against the Old Dominion Monarchs.

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