Conway, Ark. – Led by Angela Beadle with 15 points, Sam Houston threw a scare into Southland Conference women's basketball leader Central Arkansas Saturday before falling 54-49.

Combined with a Lamar loss to Oral Roberts, Central Arkansas extended its Southland lead to two games with their league mark at 12-3. UCA is 18-8 for the season.

The Bearkats, who came into the contest tied for 10th place in the league race, showed the UCA Bears they were in for a fight from the opening tip.

Sam Houston held UCA to only one field goal in the first six minutes while building an 8-3 lead. The Kats hit six of their first 10 shots to build a 16-14 lead with 9:39 remaining in the first period.

The SHSU women went cold in the last 10 minutes of the half, going 1-for-11 as UCA finished the period with a 13-5 run to take a 27-21 margin into the locker room at intermission.

The Kats weren't done, starting the second half with a 9-2 run of their own to take back the lead 30-29 on a basket by Jazmin Wiley at the 14:01 mark.

The pair traded leads six times in the next 10 minutes before UCA took control with three consecutive three-point baskets to go up 52-47 with 3:17 to play.

Beadle had one more chance to pull out the upset, having a shot that would have pulled the Kats back within one point with 42 seconds remaining.

Brianna Mullins led UCA with 16 points. Nyha Carter scored eight points and led SHSU with nine rebounds.

"I'm proud of the girls," SHSU women's basketball head coach Brenda Nichols. "They fought hard. They gave it all they had."

Sam Houston dropped to 11-15 for the year and 6-9 in Southland action. The Kats take on Oral Roberts Sunday afternoon in Tulsa before returning to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum on the final two regular season games of 2014 Thursday versus Southeastern Louisiana and Saturday with New Orleans.