Guards Kamry Orr and Shernise Robertson each scored 19 points and Orr added a season best 12 assists to lead Sam Houston to a 78-70 Southland Conference women's basketball victory over Houston Baptist Saturday afternoon at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
The victory avenged a 67-63 loss to HBU at the Huskies' Sharp Gymnasium on January 30 and ended a three-game losing streak as Sam Houston upped its record to 9-14 for the year and 5-8 in Southland Conference play.
Angela Beadle added 12 points and 10 points for the Bearkats. Anna Strickland and Monet Neal each scored 15 points for HBU.
Houston Baptist fought back from a 12-point first quarter deficit to take a one point, 49-48 lead on a layup by Strickland with 3:55 to play in the third period. The Kats bounced back to end the third up by seven 40-33 and out-scored the Huskies 22-18 in the fourth quarter.
“We had more assists than turnovers,” Sam Houston head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “I thought we did a great job playing as a team. In the locker room, we put up our goals and I told them that if we have more assists than turnovers we'll win this game. I give it to our bench and our total team.”
Robertson was credited with four assists. The Kats totaled 23 assists and 19 turnovers.
Jasmine McCants and Laurynn McGowen each scored nine points and Lydia Baxter totaled eight. Sam Houston outscored HBU 34-30 in the paint.
Sam Houston took charge early, jumping out to a 12-5 margin on a lay-up by McCants five minutes into the opening period and leading by 12 25-17 as Robertson bagged a three just before the buzzer.
HBU outscored the Kats 18-13 in the second period, cutting the margin to five points, 38-33, on a jumper by Lisa Zderaicka at the 2:30 mark. A lay-up by Robertson with 1:50 left sent the Kats into the locker room with a 40-33 lead at intermission.
Sam Houston fired an amazing 63 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, hitting 17-of-27. Orr was a perfect 4-for-4 including one three-pointer. The Kats kept up the hot shooting with an ever better 65.0 percentage in the final 20 minutes. For the game the SHSU women hit 30-of-47 for 63.8 percent, a season best.
