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HOUSTON – Leading by one point when Sam Houston State's post player Angela Beadle had to sit due to foul trouble, HBU used that opportunity to go inside, using an 8-2 run for a seven-point lead and never looked back in the Huskies' 67-63 win over the Bearkats Saturday afternoon from Sharp Gym.

Anna Strickland posted her 14th double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to pace HBU (9-10 overall, 4-5 SLC). Monet Neal followed with 14 points and nine rebounds, while she was huge on the defensive end, forcing three offensive fouls. Rachel Arthur and Heidi Sihvola each scored 10 points, as Sihvola tied her career high of two blocked shots. Bria Johnson set a new personal best with six assists. As a team, HBU shot 40 percent from the floor.

The Southland's leading scorer, Shernise Robertson, led all players with 28 points, as she shot six 3-pointers. Beadle posted a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes. Laurynn McGowen was the other Bearkat in double figures, as she finished with 11 points. SHSU also shot 40 percent in the game.

The teams went back and forth throughout most of the first quarter, with three ties in the first seven-and-a-half minutes of action, before the Bearkats closed the final 3:44 on an 8-3 run to take a 19-14 lead. The duo of Robertson and Beadle combined for 14 points and nine rebounds in the quarter.

McGowen's layup at the 9:19-mark of the second quarter gave SHSU its largest lead of the game, 21-14. The Huskies fought back and tied the game by using an 8-1 run, highlighted by an Arthur trey. Two free throws gave HBU a one-point lead, 29-28, with 2:29 remaining in the opening half. Arthur forced a steal and went in for the layup to give the Huskies a three-point advantage, one they would carry into the locker room, 31-28.

Strickland led HBU with nine points and eight rebounds in the first half, while Robertson led all players with 13 points. The teams were evenly matched as HBU shot 33 percent from the floor compared to the Bearkats' 35.

Fifteen seconds into the third quarter, Beadle picked up her third personal foul and had to sit. After McGowen made two free throws to cut HBU's lead to one, 31-30, HBU used an 8-2 run to take a seven-point lead, 39-32, with 6:12 remaining. Beadle came back in to stop the bleeding, but the Huskies eventually increased their lead to nine, 49-40, following a jumper by Strickland at the 1:03-mark.

HBU scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to take its largest lead of the game, 54-42, two minutes into the frame. After each team answered with baskets, Robertson's three-pointer sparked the Bearkats and they used a 16-9 run to cut HBU's lead from 12 to five. Two key free throws by Lisa Zderadicka with 23 ticks left put HBU ahead by three scores, 67-70. Robertson hit a trey at the buzzer for the four-point HBU win.

HBU plays at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.