Abilene – Junior guard Shernise Robertson scored 28 points to lead Sam Houston to a 63-58 Southland Conference women's basketball victory over Abilene Christian Thursday at Moody Coliseum.
The Bearkats, now 4-13 for the year and 3-4 in Southland play, trailed 58-51 with 1:39 to play. But the SHSU women outscored the Wildcats 12-0 in the final minute-and-a-half. Robertson accounted for 10 of those points with a pair of three pointers and four free throws.
Abilene Christian drops to 8-8 for the season and 1-5 in league action. The Wildcats were led by Whitney West with 23 points.
“I'm really proud of these girls the way they just keep fighting,” SHSU head women's basketball coach Brenda Nichols said. “We really needed the get over the hump. We've struggled in the second half lately and that's something we've been working on.”
The contest saw nine ties and 15 lead changes with Abilene Christian leading for more than 23 minutes.
After Robertson had given Sam Houston a 45-43 lead with 6:31 to play, Abilene Christian went on a 15-6 run to go up 58-51.
Robertson started the comeback with threes at the 1:29 and 1:12 marks. Taylor Dorsey, who totaled 10 points for Sam Houston, hit a two-pointer for the go-ahead basketball after an ACU turnover on a traveling call.
Robertson rebounded a missed Wildcat three-pointer and scored on two free throws. Then the Bearkat defense forced a backcourt 10-second violation to set up another pair of free throws to ice the victory.
“Shernise Robertson did a great job scoring for us but this isn't about one player,” Nichols said. “It was a great team effort. The kids did a good job running the offense and setting screens to get Shernise open. And we had some big plays on defense like the 10-second call at the end."
The Bearkats had their best shooting night of the year, hitting 46.7 percent from the field (21-of-45). The SHSU women also had a strong defensive effort, limiting ACU to 33 percent shooting (20-of-60). The Wildcats took 32 three point shots but made only 10.
The Wildcats got off to a fast start, building a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes. But Sam Houston fought back with a 14-1 run to go in front 16-13 after a Morghen Day three-point at the 10:52 mark.
The two teams exchanged leads four more times in the opening half. Robertson sank a three-pointer three seconds before the halftime buzzer to give the SHSU women a 29-27 lead at intermission.
Day scored eight points for Sam Houston. Sherdijah Moore led the Bearkats on the boards with eight rebounds.
Sam Houston returns to Huntsville to play host to Stephen F. Austin Saturday afternoon at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. The game is part of a doubleheader with the women tipping off at 2 p.m. and the men at 4:30.
