HUNTSVILLE — Junior Amber Leggett reached a career milestone while leading the Sam Houston women's basketball team to an 88-72 victory over Abilene Christian at Johnson Coliseum Wednesday.
 
Needing just one point for the 1,000^th of her career, Leggett wasted no time writing her name in the record book. It came on the first basket of the game, a layup off an offensive rebound 34 seconds into the first quarter making her the 18^th player to reach the 1,000-career point milestone in the program's history.
 
Leggett scored a game-high 31 points as the Bearkats improved to 7-4 on the season and 3-2 in Southland Conference play. Senior Faith Cook added 17 points, senior Courtney Cleveland scored 14 points and junior Madelyn Batista finished with 13.
 
After building a double-digit lead in the first half, Sam Houston kept its foot on the gas pedal after the break. The Bearkats shot a blistering 51.5 percent from the floor, building a lead as big as 18 when Cleveland scored on a layup to make it 78-60 with just under seven minutes to go in the game.
 
The Bearkats led for all but one minute of the first half but never trailed. SHSU took a 23-13 lead on a layup by Cleveland with 19 seconds to go in the first quarter.
 
The Wildcats (9-3, 2-1) got as close as five in the second quarter before the Kats went on a 6-0 run to pull away. SHSU twice led by as many as 14 points when Cook hit a 3-pointer at the 2:18 mark and again when she scored on a layup with 33 seconds to go in the first half.
 
Sam Houston forced 12 turnovers and turned it into 11 first-half points to go into the break up 44-32.

The win snapped a 7-game streak of victories for ACU in Huntsville with the Kats not picking up a wi in the series on its home floor since 1983.
 
The Bearkats take a break in action this weekend then host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m.