HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana's Caitlyn Williams rolled in a shot just before the final buzzer on Wednesday night to give the Lady Lions a 68-67 win over Sam Houston at the University Center.
 
Williams, who was making her season debut for SLU (6-6, 5-4 SLC), played less than 10 minutes and finished with just six points, but found herself in the right place at the right time in the game's final seconds.
 
The Kats (9-6, 5-4 SLC) had just broke a 66-66 tie on a free throw from Jacquelyn Levay with only 2.8 seconds remaining on the clock, but the Lady Lions were able to use a timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt and took advantage of the inbounds in front of their own bench. Cierra Cunningham triggered the inbounds but fired the ball into traffic where it was deflected to Williams who found herself all alone at the right elbow.
 
Her shot then bounced three times on the rim before falling through to give SLU not only the win on the night, but a two-game season sweep of the Bearkats for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
 
Once again it was Amber Leggett leading the Bearkats with 22 points in the game, hitting nine of her 17 shots from the floor to go with four rebounds, two steals and two blocks. She did all of her scoring damage in the second half after foul trouble limited her to just over seven minutes of court time in the opening half.
 
That effort, especially 15 points in the third quarter, helped the Kats erase a 35-27 halftime deficit; however, the Kats were never able to take more than a 3-point lead late in the third period.
 
Courtney Cleveland (14 points) and Faith Cook (12 points) joined her in double figures, but ultimately a rough night from beyond the arc and at the foul line was too much to overcome. Cook had the lone Bearkat 3-point bucket on 10 tries in the game, and the Kats finished just 14-for-30 from the charity stripe.
 
Hailey Giaratano (13 points) and Morgan Carrier (13 points) reached double figures while Natalie Kelly (12 rebounds) and Chrissy Brown (10 rebounds) handled the bulk of the load on the glass for the Lady Lions.
 
The Kats will now return home to host Central Arkansas on Saturday beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
 
The game is set to be aired on ESPN+ and fans are reminded that all ticket sales must be done in advance and that SHSU, Southland Conference and NCAA COVID-19 protocols will be in place at all times.