Dec. 2, 2005
BEAUMONT - Despite scoring a season-high 89 points, the Lamar University Lady Cardinals could not hold off the Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms Friday night, falling 94-89 in the Montagne Center.
Monticello, an NCAA Division II school out of the Gulf South Conference, grabbed a one point lead with 2:03 to play in the game, and was able to hold off Lamar with clutch free throw shooting down the stretch. A lay up by Chelsea Gugliotta cut the Blossom lead to 86-85 but a technical foul on the Lamar bench enabled Monticello to quickly up the lead to three points.
Free throw shooting by Monticello prevented Lamar from being able to catch the Cotton Blossoms, as they made six free throws in the final 16 seconds to hang on for the win.
The Lady Cardinals jumped out to an eight point lead with a minute to play in the opening half, but Monticello closed the period with a 5-0 run to cut the Lamar lead to 46-43 heading into the break.
At the start of the second half, Monticello knocked down a three pointer to tie, the game, their first of seven three pointers in the second half. The game continued back and forth for the rest of the second half, with each team answering the others run with a scoring burst of their own.
The Cotton Blossoms, who shot 44 percent from the field, had five players score in double figures led by Theresa Tran's 15 points, while Thomas and Katrina Dean each poured in 14. Tasha Owens and Wendy Young chipped in 13 and 11 points respectively for Monticello.
Lamar made 45 percent of their shots from the field, led by Gugliotta who scored a career-high 19 points while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. She bested her previous scoring high of 18 points, set Wednesday night against Wiley College. Audrea Samuel chipped in with 17 points and five blocks for the Lady Cards, while Dionne Pounds and LaToya Carson each added 14 points.
The Lady Cardinals will be in action again Monday night when they take on future Southland Conference foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, in Corpus Christi, at 7 p.m.
