By Gene Schallenberg
Staff Reporter
Everything seemed to go wrong for the Bearkat women at the beginning of Monday's game against Oral Roberts. But Sam Houston nearly dug itself out of a huge hole, ultimately falling to the Golden Eagles 101-85.
Kats senior guard Brittany Brooks led Sam Houston State in scoring with 22 points. SHSU senior Ray Alexander scored 17 and also had eight assists and eight steals. Senior post Whitney Smith and sophomore forward Bre Agnew also chipped in, scoring 10 points apiece.
"We were just turning the ball over and that wasn't helping," SHSU head coach Brenda Nichols said. "I knew once we started scoring, we would be all right. Once we got it going, the kids started moving."
From the outset, Oral Roberts was determined to make Sam Houston State uneasy with its full-court press. The Golden Eagles had achieved their goal as the Bearkats were directly affected by the pressure.
Sam Houston committed six turnovers in the first three minutes and missed its first 11 shots to fall into a double-digit hole in the early going. The Kats didn't make their first field goal until the 11:04 mark, a 3-pointer by Alexander to bring the score to 23-8.
"I think we were a little timid with how they were playing defense," Alexander said. "We were trying to throw through people and we turned the ball over. We have to adjust our offense according to their defense. It didn't work for us."
After finally snapping its shooting slump, SHSU started to get into a rhythm, hitting 57 percent of its shots the rest of the half.
By the end of the first half, the Kats got within striking distance with only a five-point deficit.
Sam Houston State had hoped to overtake Oral Roberts in the second half, but the Bearkats were unable to have the same kind of shooting success.
The Kats made 18-of-46 shots, 39.1 percent, in the second half, including 3-of-12 shooting beyond the arc.
"We had to play catch-up and when you have to catch up, you gamble," Nichols said. "We gambled a lot with our shots. I think we just needed about 10 more minutes and maybe this game might've been different."
Nursing a five-point lead early in the second half, Oral Roberts began to pull away when the Kats couldn't hit their shots. The Golden Eagles led by as many as 21 and held on for the victory.
"A lot of teams would've quit when they're 21 points down," Nichols said. "Our team never did. We've just got to keep improving and we're going to peak when we need to peak."
