Houston Baptist (2-7) was led by Tia Jackson with 12 points, Brittany Barton with 11 and Texada with 10. Sequeena Thomas led Sam Houston (6-5) with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Texada's three-point play gave the Huskies a 49-47 lead. Ten seconds later, SHSU's Khamra Echols had the opportunity to tie the game, but missed her second free throw. The Kats got the ball back on a turnover and Britni Martin missed a three pointer and Thomas was off the mark with a layup. HBU's Joselyn Pugh rebounded the miss, was fouled, and nailed two free throws to ice the game.

Paced for Sequeena Thomas's 10 points in the first nine minutes of the game, Sam Houston jumped out to a 17-10 lead. But, after Thomas left the game with her second foul, the Huskies finished the half with an 18-7 run to lead at intermission 28-24.

The Bearkats hit only 25.7 percent from the from in the first half, going 9-of-35 from the field and 2-of-12 from behind the three-point line.

"We weren't shooting our best from the outside and we couldn't get into our game today," said Thomas. "I feel like we came into this game kind of overlooking this team and just expected to win. We just didn't perform."

The Kats forced 25 turnovers by HBU but committed 18. But the offense did not improve in the second half. Overall, the Kats shot just 25 percent from the floor, 17 percent from 3-point range and 41 percent from the foul line. Behind the three point arc, Sam Houston hit only five of 29 attempts.

"What can I say? We could have been better," said Huntsville native Jaleesa Thomas, who finished with seven points on 3-of-16 shooting for SHSU. "I think we play defense really well. Defense is good, but we also need offense. We just have to work in practice and get a little better."

With the game tied at 28 in the second half, SHSU freshman Nyha Carter hit a free throw to give the Kats a one-point advantage. On the next possession, Jaleesa Thomas missed the first of four consecutive 3-pointers taken by the Bearkats. Two of those 3-point misses were from Britni Martin, who took 15 of her 16 shots from behind the arc. She made only three of them for the game.

"Nothing was falling for us tonight and when I say nothing, I mean absolutely nothing," Sequeena Thomas said. "Everything was just off. We had one of those off nights that I hope we never have again."

When the Kats failed to convert on five tries, HBU went back and forth with SHSU before jumping in the driver's seat.

Martin hit a 3 to give the Kats their largest lead of the game, 42-34. From there, HBU went on a 15-5 run, capped by an inside score from Destini Texada, plus the foul.

"We've got to come out, refocus and regroup," SHSU head coach Brenda Nichols said after the game. "Our shooting wasn't there but we've got to not let them score their points either.

"We've got some things to correct. Thank goodness this is nonconference and we've got 19 more ball games to go. This is an early hiccup in the road and we'll bounce back from this."

Saturday's contest was the final non-conference home game for the  Sam Houston women's team. The Bearkats will play three road non-conference contests during the Christmas break beginning with a tilt with TCU in Fort Worth Saturday, December 19.

The Bearkat women will begin Southland Conference action when they play host to UTSA Saturday, January 8 at 2 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.

Tickets for Sam Houston  basketball are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets.

Fans also may purchase tickets at the Sam Houston athletic 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 is (936) 294-1764.