HUNTSVILLE - Ray Alexander made layups with 11 seconds and three seconds remaining in overtime to give Sam Houston a 77-75 Southland Conference women's basketball victory over UT-Arlington Saturday afternoon at Johnson Coliseum.
Whitney Smith forced overtime with a 10-foot jumper with two seconds to play to tie the contest 70-70 at the end of regulation.
Smith and Bre Agnew led Sam Houston (5-11, SLC 2-2) with 16 points apiece. Alexander scored 15 points and Brittany Brooks added 12.
Tamara Simmons led all scorers with 27 points for UT-Arlington (7-13, SLC 2-3), the Southland Conference's defending women's basketball co-champion. The contest was tied 18 times with 12 lead changes.
"We had a lot of moments in this game where things changed," Sam Houston head coach Brenda Nichols said. "Every player participated when those opportunities arose. The seniors stepped up. Ray did exactly what she was supposed to do. I wanted the ball in her hands. She is the general. That is what she is supposed to do."
Vernoica Mergerson led UTA with 15 rebounds as the Mavericks out-boarded the Bearkats 54-49. Smith pulled down 12 rebounds and Agnew had 10 boards for Sam Houston.
The victory is the second in a row for the Bearkat women who ended an eight-game losing streak last Wednesday at Texas State. The win also ended a 15-game winning streak for the Mavericks over Sam Houston. The Kat women had not defeated UTA since 2001. UT-Arlington has won the Southland women's championship three of the last five seasons.
UTA built an early nine point lead, going up 25-16 with 7:56 remaining in the first half. Brooks hit back-to-back threes and Alexander hit another three as Sam Houston put up nine quick points to tie the contest 25-25 at 6:07.
The Kats outscored the Mavericks 17-14 in the final six minutes of the half to take a 42-39 lead at intermission.
UTA held a six point lead 58-52 with 8:30 to play, but the Kats fought back again. After a free throw by Kiarra Shorner gave UTA a 70-68 lead with nine seconds to play, Smith hit her overtime-forcing basket.
"Right before we went into overtime, we had already played 40 minutes of hard basketball," Nichols said. "As we got ready to go back out, I told them we had to play hard for five more. They did."
To put the game in overtime, Smith dribbled with her back to the basket and put a nifty spin move on the defender, baking in the tying jumper with 2.2 seconds left.
"It was just a total team effort," Nichols said. "Our girls are pumped up. We're on a roll now."
The Bearkat women travel to Lamar Wednesday then play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday at 2 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.
Tickets are on sale now on line at www.gobearkats.com and at the Sam Houston ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729.
Box Score
SAM HOUSTON STATE 77, UT-ARLINGTON 75
01/23/10 2:05 pm at Huntsville, TX (Johnson Coliseum)
UT-ARLINGTON (7-11 SLC 2-3)
Simmons, Tamara 9-24 5-5 27; Martin, Shalyn 5-11 3-7 16; Nelson, Meghan 3-11 8-9 14; Shorner, Kiarra 1-6 5-8 7; Mergerson, Veronica 2-7 2-2 6; Dike, Donna 1-2 1-4 3; Taylor, LaNell 1-1 0-0 2; Paskell, Erica 0-0 0-0 0; Terral, Nicole 0-0 0-0 0; Parker, Kiara 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-64 24-35 75.
SAM HOUSTON STATE (5-11 SLC 2-2)
Agnew, Bre 7-14 1-2 16; Smith, Whitney 7-13 1-4 16; Alexander, Ray 5-11 4-6 15; Brooks, Brittany 4-13 2-5 12; Echols, Khamra 3-10 0-2 6; Davis, Clarke 2-2 1-2 5; Thomas, Sequeena 1-2 2-6 4; Smith, Chanice 1-7 1-3 3; Hager, Therese 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-72 12-30 77.
UT-Arlington.................. 39 31 5 - 75
Sam Houston State............. 42 28 7 - 77
