HUNTSVILLE – It was a tough night for the Sam Houston State women's basketball team on Wednesday night as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi led wire to wire and clinched at least a share of the Southland Conference championship with a 60-45 win at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
 
The Islanders (22-7, 16-3 SLC) never trailed and led by as much as 17 late in the fourth quarter, holding the Kats (19-9, 14-5 SLC) to just 37.7 percent shooting from the field and 1-for-10 from the 3-point arc.
 
Led by Dae Dae Evans' 14 points and five rebounds, AMCC got off to a hot start and held a 23-17 lead after a high-scoring first quarter of play. But then the Islanders settled into their groove and showed why they are one of the top scoring defenses in the league, forcing 25 Bearkat turnovers on the night, while holding the SHSU to single-digit scoring outputs in both the second and fourth quarters.
 
They can clinch the title outright with a win over Houston Baptist on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Bearkats can finish as high as a tie for second in the league with a win on Saturday at Stephen F. Austin, a victory that would give SHSU its first 20-win season as a Division I program and sweep the season series with rival SFA for the first time since 2012-13.
 
Jenniffer Oramas, playing in her last regular-season game at Johnson Coliseum, led the Kats with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and a pair of assists. Amber Leggett joined her in double figures with 12, but no other Bearkat finished with more than Faith Cook's six points.
 
Courtney Cleveland and Kiera McKinney had six rebounds apiece to lead the way, while La'Sha Haynes had four assists and three boards.
 
The Kats trailed by as much as eight in the opening quarter, but did not let things get out of hand; however, the Islanders started to control things in the second period. Sam Houston trailed just 25-21 early in the quarter, but did not make a field goal for the final 8:38 of the half.
 
Meanwhile, the Islanders used an 8-0 run to stretch things out and eventually went into the half with a 33-24 advantage.
 
Sam Houston got the lead down to 39-35 on consecutive jumpers by Oramas late in the third quarter, but after taking a 7-point lead into the fourth, they put the game in a stranglehold by holding the Kats scoreless for the first five minutes of the final period while going on a 7-0 run themselves to up the lead to 51-37, which was more than enough to make it to the finish line.
 
The Kats will now look to turn the page when they travel to Nacogdoches to square off with SFA on Saturday. Tipoff against the Ladyjacks is set for 2:00 p.m. at William R. Johnson Coliseum with the game to be aired on ESPN3.