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KATY, Texas – Senior forward Anna Strickland had a record-setting performance and highlighted four HBU women's basketball players in double figures, but foul trouble and turnovers plagued the Huskies in a 98-95 double overtime loss to Lamar on Thursday in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center.

Strickland set both the SLC and 2015-16 NCAA Division I single-game records with 31 rebounds. She finished with 21 points, a career-high seven blocked shots, and her eight assists were one shy of tying her personal mark. According to ESPN Stats and Info, no NBA or NCAA Division I men's basketball player has had those numbers in the last 20 years and Strickland was the first player to have more than 30 rebounds in a game since Southeast Missouri State's Lachelle Lyles in 2006-07. For her efforts, she was named to the All-Tournament Team.

"I didn't know I had that many rebounds, but it helped that my teammates were boxing out so well," said Strickland. "We really emphasized that in practice. It's just really fun to play with this group."

Joining Strickland in double figure scoring was Monet Neal with her second-straight 20-plus game, dropping 21. Rachel Arthur finished with 13 points – highlighted by a 3-for-3 game from beyond the arc – while Ekemini Essien came off the bench to score a career-high 11 points. HBU as a team out-rebounded Lamar, 59-44 and shot better than the Cardinals, 48 percent to 33 percent.

Lamar (12-18) was led by Addesha Collins with 23 points, while Chastadie Barrs posted a double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds.

The teams exchanged baskets for the first four minutes of the contest before HBU used a 7-0 run to take a 12-5 lead, five points by Arthur. Lamar battled back, but another trey by Arthur gave the Huskies an 18-9 advantage with 2:36 remaining in the opening quarter. The Cardinals scored six unanswered to cut the deficit to three, but Arthur's layup gave the Huskies a five-point lead, 20-15, and Arthur took a charge in the waning seconds to keep the Huskies in front by five.

Lamar cut a seven-point deficit to four, but Meghan Shank answered with a three-pointer to push the Huskies back up to six, 28-22, with 6:13 left in the first half. The Cardinals used a 9-2 run to take a 31-30 lead with just under three minutes remaining, highlighted by a Barrs steal and a block by Kali Pippins-Tryon. Back-to-back treys by Arthur and Lisa Zderadicka gave HBU a four-point lead, 36-32, with a minute remaining, but Lamar scored five unanswered to take a one-point lead into the break, 37-36.

HBU came out of the locker room on fire, outscoring Lamar 7-0 to take a 43-37 lead and force the Cardinals to take a timeout two minutes into the third quarter. Still leading by five with 6:10 left in the quarter, Lamar scored four straight to cut the deficit to one, 47-46. Strickland's layup from a terrific pass from Bria Johnson gave HBU a three-point advantage, but was quickly answered by a Pippins-Tryon three-pointer. There would be two more ties before Lamar ended the quarter with four unanswered points to take a 62-58 lead.

Collins' jumper 15 seconds into the fourth quarter gave Lamar its largest lead of the game, 64-58. A three-pointer by Heidi Sihvola cut the deficit to two, 65-63, with 8:13 left in regulation. HBU could get no closer than three until the 3:13-mark when Sihvola struck again with another long distance shot to put the Huskies within two, 74-72. After the teams traded baskets, Neal's layup knotted the game at 76-all with 1:47 left in regulation. HBU had a chance to win in regulation as Neal had an offensive rebound with 10 seconds left and the game tied at 77-all, but HBU could not get an adequate shot off.

Tied at 79, HBU scored four straight to take its largest lead of the extra session, 83-79, with 2:08 remaining. Baileigh O'Dell hit a big three-pointer to give Lamar a one-point lead, 84-83. With Lamar leading by two with 25 seconds remaining, Strickland made a layup to send the game into a second overtime tied at 86.

O'Dell made two free throws to start the second session and it was a lead Lamar would not relinquish. The Cardinals led by as many as five following a second trey by O'Dell, but HBU battled back to within three following a layup by Veronika Kirienko. Down by four in the waning seconds, Amanda Johnson's three-point attempt was partially blocked.

"I mean what a tough game," said HBU head coach Donna Finnie. "Credit to Lamar. It was a really tough contest on both ends of the floor. I thought that both teams just dug in into the second and the two overtimes. I was really pleased with our effort collectively because we had to play some girls today who have not played a lot of minutes and they really stepped up.

"Every time you lose like this you have to learn from it and, talking to our staff, we have such young guards on our team that will be back next year and we have to use this as a teaching moment. The experience they got from a game like this is really going to help us next year. Although we lose some key players, I'm really excited by the group we have coming back."

HBU ends its season at 14-15 overall and graduates five seniors: Arthur, Essien, Neal, Shank, and Strickland.