Courtney Duever scored 23 points and Megan Herbert added 19 to lead Central Arkansas to a 71-51 Southland Conference women’s basketball victory over Sam Houston State Saturday afternoon at Conway.

The loss, the third in a row for a team that a week ago stood in first place with a game-and-a-half lead, dropped the Bearkats to 13-12 for the year and 9-4 in Southland play.

Central Arkansas, one of the preseason league favorites but in a tailspin the past two weeks, ended a five-game losing streak. The Bears now stand 14-11 for the year and 7-7 in the Southland.

Nyha Carter led Sam Houston with 14 points. Chanice Smith and Britni Martin added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Sam Houston held an early 9-6 lead after a Britni Martin three-pointer four minutes into the game. But, with the contest tied 10-10 at 14:56, the Bears went on a 15-2 run to go up 25-12 on a Britney Gowan basket with 10:18 left in the half.

After a 9-2 run, the Bearkats cut the margin back to six, 27-21 on another Martin three-pointer at 5:12. But Central Arkansas out-scored the Kats 10-2 to go into the locker room up 37-23 at intermission.

UCA out-shot the Bearkats 42.4 percent to 32.1 from the field as Sam Houston also went 1-of-9 from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes.

Martin opened the second half with her third three-point basket to cut the margin to 11, 37-26, but that was as close as Sam Houston would come the rest of the day.

Central Arkansas went on a 21-9 run to lead by 23, 58-35, with 9:07 to play. The Bears led by as many as 25 points late in the final three minutes. UCA out-scored SHSU 34-28 in the second period.

Sam Houston ended the game shooting 35.1 percent from the field (20-of-57) and 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from the foul line.

The Bearkats return to Huntsville to take on Stephen F. Austin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.