Nacogdoches - Senior guard Whitney Smith led all scorers with 23 points to become the 10th Sam Houston State women's basketball player to score more than 1,000 points as the Bearkats fell to Stephen F. Austin 98-85 in the Southland Conference opener for both teams.
Smith now has scored 1,011 points in 97 games during her four-years as a Bearkat. Four other Sam Houston players scored in double figures including Brittany Brooks with 16, Sequeena Thomas 14, Clarke Davis 10 and Chanice Smith 10.
Davis also pulled down 10 rebounds to mark the second time this season that a Bearkat women's player has produced double figure points and rebounds in the same game.
The Lumberjacks also had five players in double figures. SFA was led by Jordan Ford with 21 points.
Stephen F. Austin evened its season record at 6-6 while the Bearkats dropped to 3-9 for the year. The loss was the sixth in a row for the Sam Houston women who have played their last seven contests on the road.
The contest was a nip-and-tuck affair early, with the lead changing hands 10 times in the first half. Sam Houston's largest lead was two points and the Kats were up 23-22 after a three-point basket by Thomas with 8:32 left before halftime.
SFA closed the period with a 21-12 run to build a 43-35 margin at halftime. The Jacks out-scored Sam Houston 20-7 in the first six minutes of the second half to go up 21 points 63-42 on a jumper by Whitney Cormier with 14:07 to play. The Bearkats could never reduce the lead to less than double digits the rest of the game.
The Bearkats, whose last game in Huntsville was on Nov. 30, finally return home next Tuesday when they play host to Texas Southern at 6:30 p.m. The next Southland Conference game for the Sam Houston women will be Saturday at 2 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana at Johnson Coliseum.
