The Bearkats' late rally fell short, as they lost 64-56 to Central Arkansas Thursday night at Johnson Coliseum. After trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, the Sam Houston State women's basketball fought back and cut the deficit to just six points in the closing seconds.

“It seemed a little like we were all in slow motion tonight on both ends,” Bearkat head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “We had some good play from some individuals but at the end of the day we have to play as a team and win as a team.”

Taylor Dorsey led the Bearkats with 18 points and eight rebounds. The sophomore guard scored nine points in each half.

Both teams started slowly and the Kats jumped out to a 6-2 lead over UCA in the opening minutes. The Bearkat defense held the Bears off the board for the first five minutes of the game.

UCA blew the game open with a 15-0 run halfway through the first period to jump out to a 22-11 lead over the Kats. SHSU made a small run to cut the lead back to just six but the Bears dominated the final four minutes and led by as much as 13 points. UCA held a 31-20 lead at the break.

The Bears started the second half strong and kept their lead to more than 10 points until the final six minutes of the game.

SHSU finally cut the lead to nine at the 4:51 mark on a layup by senior Jazmin Wiley. Junior Amanda Barnes made a three-pointer with 35 seconds left to make the score 57-51.

Central Arkansas was led by 18 points by Maggie Proffitt, while Kendra Watts added 17 points and Terai Sadler scored 15 points. The Bears shot 42% from the field.

The Bearkats will play three tough road games to close out the regular season. Sam Houston will head to A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday, before closing with Lamar and Stephen F. Austin next week.