By Gene Schallenberg
The Bearkat women had done everything they needed to do. They had Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi on the ropes.
But it wasn’t enough as the Islanders rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half to hand the Kats a 76-69 loss in overtime on Saturday.
The Bearkats missed several open looks in the extra period and Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi pulled away with the win.
“The bottom line is we came down and didn’t finish strong at the end,” Sam Houston State head coach Brenda Nichols said. “We missed some easy ones. Those, you have to make in games like this. We didn’t do our job. We’re a better team than that. We just have to put the ball in the hole and we have to go up strong and that’s something that we didn’t do tonight.”
The Islanders (5-1 in Southland Conference, 13-6 overall) struck first in overtime after guard Jade Davis connected on both free-throw attempts.
On the following possession, SHSU post Bre Agnew grabbed an offensive rebound following a missed layup by Brittany Brooks and was then fouled by Islanders guard Deziree Green. Agnew, though, could only make one of her two attempts.
It was all downhill for the Kats from there. The Bearkats, who fell to 2-4 in conference and 5-13 overall, missed on their next eight shots from the floor.
“We missed easy buckets,” Nichols said. “There were things that we should’ve taken care of, but that didn’t happen. This game could’ve gone either way.
“If we would’ve put the ball in the hole, who knows, this game might’ve went into four overtimes. We played a great game, my girls played hard, we played great defense. We just didn’t take care of our business at the end.”
With time winding down, Brooks banked in a 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining to pull the Bearkats to within three at 72-69.
Islanders post Adrienne Scott, who was intentionally fouled following the inbounds pass, sunk both free throws with 14 seconds to play to put the game out of reach.
The Bearkats led by as many 12 in the second half, but couldn’t hold back the Islanders from rallying to tie and take the lead with a little more than three minutes to play.
“I think we had them on their toes the whole game except for like one little stretch,” Brooks said. “We couldn’t hit a shot and they were making all theirs. I think that was the difference in the game.
“We just have to work on making the layups at the end. They were easy shots, we just have to put them in.”
The Kats trailed by five with 53 second to play in the second half.
Brooks drilled three straight free throws after she was fouled by Islanders guard Shaye Montgomery on a 3-point attempt.
After forcing Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi’s 25th turnover with 25 seconds to play, Ray Alexander brought the ball up the court and dribbled around defenders before laying it in for the tying bucket with 10.7 seconds to play in regulation.
“We really wanted this one,” Brooks added. “We’ve got to move on. We’ve got more games. We’ll see them again. Hopefully, it’s another good game and we’ll win next time.”
