Led by Angela Beadle and Shernise Robertson, Sam Houston fell 70-63 to Stephen F. Austin Saturday afternoon in Nacogdoches in a Southland Conference women's basketball game.

Both Beadle and Robertson scored 23 points. Beadle also pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked two shots. Robertson went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.

After 15-4 start in the opening four minutes, the Bearkats never could catch up as they fell to 7-11 for the season and 3-5 in league play.

“We just dug ourselves too deep a hole early,” Sam Houston head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “We fought hard but you can't try to fight from behind every game and expect to win.”

SFA, now 8-10 this year and 2-5 in conference, was led by Taylor Schippers with 25 points. Her five most important points were five free throws the final 22 seconds remaining after the SHSU women had to margin to four points.

Kramry Orr added seven points for Sam Houston and Laurynn McGowen totaled five. Beadle went 8-for-14 from the field with five of her 11 boards coming on the offensive end.

“Stephen F. Austin did a really good job with their zone defense,” Beadle said. “There was always someone on me and sometimes two. We can't afford to try to come back from behind every game. This is Southland Conference play and it's going to be tough the rest of the way.”

The Lumberjacks never trailed, leading 25-15 in the first period and going up by 14, 38-24 at intermission.  SFA could not put the Kats away as the Bearkats out-pointed the Jacks 16-11 in the third period. The Sam women cut the margin to as few as six points, 44-38, on a fast break lay-up by Laurynn McGowan at the 2:15 mark. SFA held a 49-40 lead going into the final quarter.

In the final 10 minutes, SFA led by 11 twice. But the Kats kept it close down the stretch. Two free throws by Beadle made the score 59-53 with 3:40 to play. A three-pointer by Robertson with 34 seconds left Sam Houston within five 65-60. Eleven seconds later, Robertson's charity shots cut the SFA margin to 67-63.