SAN MARCOS, Texas- The Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers (22-12, 15-3 SWAC) season came to an end on Thursday, March 20th, with a heartbreaking 84-83 loss to the Texas State Bobcats. The Lady Panthers put up a valiant effort in their first ever WNIT appearance.
PVAMU held the lead for the majority of the contest as they started the contest clicking on all cylinders. Prairie View A&M raced off to a double digit advantage taking their largest lead of the game at 16 points at the 11:55 mark of the first half.
Candice Thomas paced the Lady Panthers attack contributing 26 first half points. Prairie View A&M went into intermission ahead by the score of 45-34.
The Bobcats buckled down defensively in the second half as they subsequently went on a 15-4 run beginning at the 13:33 mark of the half. Texas State brought the back and forth affair to a 62 all tie with 9:22 remaining in regulation. TSU went on to take their first lead of the game at 64-62 as Brooke Degrate converted a lay-up attempt.
The Lady Panthers would go on to reclaim a one point lead at 70-69 with 6:16 left to play as Thomas connected on a jumper.From that point Prairie View A&M held control of the lead and tempo of the contest as they opened up a six point lead at the 1:44 mark of the half at 80-74. TexasÂ
State subsequently took control of the game as they went on to outscore Prairie View A&M 10-3 down the stretch.The 10-3 run was highlighted by a three-point basket by the Southland Conference’s Player of the Year, Joyce Ekworomadu with two ticks left on the game clock which put TSU ahead one point at 84-83.  Prairie View A&M failed to get off a shot attempt on their ensuing possession bringing a close to a well played game and amazing season.“I felt like we gave it our all but we just came up short at the end” said Prairie View A&M head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. “ Texas State did a great job defensively the entire game and we have to give them a lot of credit.” For the game Prairie View A&M shot 42 percent from the field while holding Texas State to just 38 percent. Thomas had a career night scoring 40 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the floor. Dominique Smith, Shavonne Smith, and Twila Stokes round out the list of PVAMU double digit contributors scoring 13, 12, and 10 points respectively.The Lady Panthers twenty-two victories marks the most by the program in the schools history. With the loss of only three seniors Prairie View A&M will have the advantage of fielding an experienced ball club next season.
