BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team fell to visiting Sam Houston State Sunday afternoon in the Barclays Center, 63-56. The Blackbirds held the lead for the majority of the game, but couldn't hold off the late Bearkats surge. With the loss, the LIU is now 1-3 on the season.

Sam Houston State got on the board first in the game on two free throws, but once the Blackbirds started scoring, they did it in spurts. LIU went on an 8-0 run that lasted nearly four minutes, putting the home team up, 8-2 with 4:09 left in the first quarter. The Bearkats came back to take the lead, 11-10, with a three-pointer as time wound down in the first quarter. Sophomore Paris Jones and junior Shanovia Dove hit back-to-back three pointers to put LIU back up, 16-11 at 8:37 in the second quarter. The two teams would trade the lead back and forth from there, and Sam Houston took a 23-21 lead into halftime.
 
In the third period, LIU couldn't maintain an advantage until 4:34, when sophomore Stylz Sanders made three free throws to put the Blackbirds up, 35-32. Sanders added a layup at 3:03 to give LIU its widest lead of the second half, 38-32. In the fourth quarter, however, the Bearkats came back, and used two straight layups to take the lead back, 48-45 with 7:30 left to play. Jones, who shot 4-for-8 from behind the arc, had a big three-pointer with 6:24 left to play that gave LIU the 50-48 advantage.

But 20 seconds later, SHSU answered with a three, and the Bearkats held on to the lead from there. In the final minute of play, the Blackbirds made a late run, as a three-pointer from junior Brianna Farris put LIU in striking distance, 58-55, with 29 seconds on the clock, but Sam Houston went 5-for-6 from the free throw line from that point on, to take the victory, 63-56.
 
Sophomore Paris Jones led LIU for the second game in a row, with 13 points, going 4-for-8 from behind the arc. Junior Shanovia Dove added 12 points, while sophomore DeAngelique Waithe had a double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Shanice Vaughan added 10 points, while sophomore Stylz Sanders had a career-high 10 rebounds and five steals.

Up next, the Blackbirds hit the road to take on Navy, Wednesday, December 2 at 7 p.m.