Miami Courant

St. Thomas University issued the following announcement on Nov. 5.

The St. Thomas University (STU) Women's Basketball team (1-0) made a impactful splash to open up the 2021-22 season upsetting receiving votes LSU-Shreveport (3-3) 66-48 from the Fernandez Family center on Friday afternoon. Head Coach Candace Walker heads into her fifth season at the helm for the Bobcats alongside assistant coaches, Darren Worrell, Sebastian Moreno, and Ariana Arabitg.

Patricia Martinez-Sanz scored the first bucket for the Bobcats on the season after newcomer Kasey Gagan forced a Pilots turnover with a steal. Samaria August and Gagan would go on to make back-to-back threes to take an 8-4 lead halfway through the first quarter. The Bobcats finished out the quarter on top 14-10 after a Chrystal Pressley layup.

After trailing 4-0, St. Thomas would work their way on top and never looked back as they led for three and a half quarters. Gagan had seven of the 14-points in the quarter.

The second quarter was an offensive uptake for STU, as the team scored 20-points and won the game on the boards collecting 10. Brooke Bogatz gave a spark off the bench leading the way with five-points. The Bobcats opened the second quarter on a 11-1 run to take a 25-11 lead, Kayla Rodriguez lead the way with four points. STU took a 13-point lead into the half at 34-21.

St. Thomas outscored LSU-Shreveport in the three of the four quarters. The defense forced 22-turnovers and had 15-steals. The Bobcats scored 28-points off of turnovers, while limiting the Pilots to four-points off turnovers. The paint presence was in favor of STU outscoring the Pilots 28 to 18. The Bobcats changed the tempo of the game scoring 12-points on fast breaks, mainly coming off full-court pressure defense that caused chaos amongst the Pilots.

Coach Walker loved the start to the season stating: "We intentionally scheduled a very competitive non-conference schedule. So, to start the season off with a win against a quality team is huge for us. I think we did a fantastic job of taking advantage of a great opportunity today."

Walker went on to add: "This was by far one of the best defensive efforts I have seen in the last few years. That was a major emphasis for us as we prepared for LSU-Shreveport. We did a great job of executing the game plan."

With such a great start there is still things to work on, 'we played a great game, but I would have liked to see us finish out the 4th quarter stronger. That will be huge for us as the season goes on, being sharp from start to finish," stated Coach Walker.

Kasey Gagan had a phenomenal debut with 15-points, three-steals, and five-rebounds. Samaria August had 12-points, three-steals, and five-for-six combined from the field and behind the arc and went perfect at the charity stripe. Brooke Bogatz was the perfect boost off the bench with 12-points, three-steals, and three-bounds.

St. Thomas will look to get one more game under their belt before heading into conference on Tuesday, November 9 from the Fernandez Family Center. The Bobcats will take on Florida National with tip-off set at 6 p.m.

Original source can be found here.