Senior guard Shernise Robertson scored a season best 29 points that included a school record seven three-point makes to lead Sam Houston to an 80-56 Southland Conference women's basketball victory over Southeastern Louisiana Thursday night.
Robertson tied the school mark originally set by Andee Sheiron in 1998 and Britni Martin in 2009. The victory ups the Bearkats record to 6-7 and 2-1 in Southland action. Southeastern Louisiana dropped to 2-11 for the year and 1-1 in the league.
Senior center Angela Beadle added 17 points, led both teams with 13 rebounds and blocked four shots for the Bearkats. Laurynn McGowen scored 15 points off the bench. Nanna Pool led the Lions with 16 points.
Sam Houston roared ahead in the second half after a first 20 minutes that saw four ties and three lead changes. The Kats hit 14-of-28 for 50 percent shooting from the floor in the second half and ended the game 27-of-64 for 42 percent shooting. Southeastern Louisiana was limited to 27 percent from the floor (19-of-70).
The Kat women out-scored the Lions 46-36 in the final two periods.
“This was a great team effort. We came out hungry and really wanted this game,” Sam Houston head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “Obviously, Shernise had one of her best games of the season tonight. We had a lot of kids who played well, especially our players off the bench. And Amanda Beadle. She plays exactly like you would expect a fifth year senior to play.”
The Lions held a six-point lead, 10-4 with 3:10 remaining in the opening period. The Kats finished the quarter with a 9-1 run to lead after 10 minutes 13-11.
The final tie in the first half came at 16-16 with 8:36 to play. Sam Houston went on an 18-4 run in the next eight minutes to lead at intermission 34-20. Robertson scored eight of the 18 points during the run including two three-pointers.
Sam Houston hit 36 percent from the floor in the opening half (13-of-36) while limiting Southeastern Louisiana to 29 percent (8-of-28).
The contest saw the two teams combine for 44 turnovers (25 on the Sam women and 19 on SLU) and 42 fouls. Sam Houston scored 32 points in the paint and 24 points off Lion miscues.
“It's one of our goals to hold strong on our home court,” Welch-Nichols said. “I don't like all the turnovers but loved the way we played hard.”
Sam Houston returns to action Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Bearkat women play host to New Orleans.
