Alexander's charity shots put Sam Houston up 73-68. UTSA's Whitney York hit a layup with 21 seconds to play and Ashleigh Franklin scored with 12 seconds left to cut the lead to one but the Roadrunners could come no closer.

Brittany Brooks led all scorers with a career best 29 points. Alexander totaled 14 and Chanice Smith added 12 for Sam Houston (7-6 5-7 Southland). Alexander also posted a career high 12 assists.

York led UTSA (14-11 8-4 Southland) with 25 points. Franklin scored 22 and Judy Jones added 16.

The Bearkats trailed by eight at halftime 24-16 after hitting on 5 of 30 field goals in the first period. But Sam Houston came back to shoot 41.2 percent in the second half and went 6-of-12 in the two overtime periods to roll up its third victory in four games.

"Coming back and winning after our worst half of shooting this year shows just how far this team has come," SHSU head coach Brenda Nichols said. "Earlier in the season if we were shooting 17 percent at halftime, we'd have been down 20. But we were only down eight and that's because we were still playing tough on defense. Brittany Brooks and Chanice Smith found the range in the second half and it was a dog fight the rest of the way."

UTSA jumped out to a quick 11 point lead, 30-19 on two free throws by Jones with 16:08 to play. But Brooks hit a three with 10:17 to go and Chanice Smith two treys to spark a 21-8 run for the Kats as SHSU went up 43-41 with 6:08 to play.

The game was tied six times in the five six minutes as Brooks forced overtime with a layup off a pass from Alexander with 27 seconds left in regulation to knot the game 53-53.

Down three points 58-55 with 50 seconds in the first overtime, Brooks hit a pair of free throws and Whitney Smith made a jumper to give the Kats a 59-58 lead with 36 seconds remaining. Jones tied the game 59-59 to force another extra five minutes with a free throw with 20 seconds remaining in the first overtime.

Free throw shooting played an important factor in the extra 10 minutes of play as UTSA missed six of 12 charity shots while Sam Houston was 6-of-8 at the line.

"I couldn't be prouder of a group of kids," Nichols said. "Last Wednesday we beat Lamar, the number one team in the league, and today we knock off the number two team in our division. We're on course to get into the post-season tournament and, if we play defense as aggressively as we have the past two games, we've proven we can hang with anybody."

Sam Houston currently ranks seventh among the teams eligible for post-season play in the Southland tournament in Katy March 9-12. The Bearkats travel to McNeese and UTA next week then close the season with home contests against Northwestern State and Texas State.