Feb. 22—HUNTSVILLE — As the season’s end comes closer, Sam Houston women’s basketball has started what could be a final push to move up the Conference USA standings.
The Bearkats battled for all four quarters, plus an overtime period, against New Mexico State to secure their second CUSA win and set themselves up to make a late run at a higher seed in the CUSA standings.
Sam Houston (7-17, 2-10 CUSA) rallied for a 12-point overtime to get the 66-56 win over the Aggies.
“This is probably the most overtime games I have had in one season. I just think it’s part of it. This late in conference, kids are playing hard. I thought Diarrah had a great game in the fourth quarter but Kaylee played 45 minutes,” Sam Houston head coach Ravon Justice said. “She has had to play 45 minutes in every overtime game. That just speaks to who she is character-wise.”
Going into the fourth quarter, Sam Houston was fighting off a pesky NMSU team that wouldn’t go away. The ‘Kats held a two-point lead after NMSU rattled off a 19-point third quarter.
Coming out of the break, NMSU senior guard Molly Kaiser sparked it with eight points to start the frame and get the Aggies rolling. She would be joined by Loes Rozing in the scoring. Rozing grabbed six third-quarter points to rally them back into the game.
Then things got hairy in the fourth.
As Sam Houston clung to a two-point lead, they just needed to stay tied or ahead for the final 10 minutes and things would work out, but the Aggies fought as neither team was capable of scoring.
The Bearkats had a last-shot opportunity but it rolled out and set up the Aggies with a chance of their own with 6.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
“I told them ‘We shouldn’t be in overtime.’ That was the biggest thing I talked about. You want to control what you can control and you can control,” Justice said.
All year the Bearkats have struggled to make shots in games. At one point, they were leading the nation in offensive rebounds and sitting in fifth place on the offensive boards in the nation.
In the second quarter, things clicked. Sam Houston was shooting 50% from behind the arc and 75% from the charity stripe to help build up its lead. While the Kats seemed like things were flowing, NMSU was melting.
The Aggies had a 15.4% from the field in the eight minutes and were held to four points in the second frame.
“I thought everybody was confident with the basketball. Usually when we shoot the basketball people are hesitant, but tonight I thought everybody was comfortable,” Justice said. “They shot it with confidence and that makes it different.”
Offensive rebounds have played a vital role for this Sam Houston team all year because it gives them an extra opportunity to make a basket. Against New Mexico State there was no difference.
The Bearkats won the offensive rebound battle 14-10 and landed 14 second-chance points. Smith was a big part of that as the senior hauled in six offensive boards. Smith completed another double-double with 19 rebounds, a record in CUSA play, and added 12 points.
Junior guard Sydnee Kemp appeared to be having a strong game until she picked up her fifth foul three minutes into the fourth quarter.
Kemp was forced to exit the game on an already short bench with 13 points. Needing somebody to step up, junior Diarrah Sissoko helped the Bearkats.
Sissoko tallied 15 points across the game and came up with nine of them when Sam Houston needed them the most. She hit eight free throws on 11 attempts to give the Kats an advantage as she was fouled eight times.
“Raanee Smith got us those extra possessions with her rebounds but if you want to be a good team collectively, you have to do good things. You have to pass the basketball, score the basketball and most importantly be a good teammate,” Justice said.
Now, with four games remaining, the Bearkats have an opportunity to avenge an earlier loss in their penultimate home game of the season.
In El Paso, Sam Houston led the Miners until a 20-point fourth quarter gave UTEP the advantage leaving the ‘Kats to fall to 0-6 in CUSA play at the time.
“We have to ask the upperclassmen to step up, like Kaylee Jefferson. I thought Shanti played well. Sydnee has been in foul trouble the last couple of games, but when your seniors step up and do what they are supposed to do you can come away with a couple wins,” Justice said.
Sam Houston and UTEP will square off at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. The game will serve as senior day for six members of the squad and will be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform.
