ABILENE, TX – Junior Amber Leggett reached a career milestone while leading the Sam Houston women’s basketball team to an 88-72 victory over Abilene Christian at Johnson Coliseum Wednesday.
Needing just one point for the 1,000th of her career, Leggett wasted no time writing her name in the record book. It came on the first basket of the game, a layup off an offensive rebound 34 seconds into the first quarter making her the 18th player to reach the 1,000-career point milestone in the program’s history.
Leggett scored a game-high 31 points as the Bearkats improved to 7-4 on the season and 3-2 in Southland Conference play. Senior Faith Cook added 17 points, senior Courtney Cleveland scored 14 points and junior Madelyn Batista finished with 13.
After building a double-digit lead in the first half, Sam Houston kept its foot on the gas pedal after the break. The Bearkats shot a blistering 51.5 percent from the floor, building a lead as big as 18 when Cleveland scored on a layup to make it 78-60 with just under seven minutes to go in the game.
The Bearkats led for all but one minute of the first half but never trailed. SHSU took a 23-13 lead on a layup by Cleveland with 19 seconds to go in the first quarter.
The Wildcats (9-3, 2-1) got as close as five in the second quarter before the Kats went on a 6-0 run to pull away. SHSU twice led by as many as 14 points when Cook hit a 3-pointer at the 2:18 mark and again when she scored on a layup with 33 seconds to go in the first half.
Sam Houston forced 12 turnovers and turned it into 11 first-half points to go into the break up 44-32.
