Jan. 12, 2006

BEAUMONT - Despite a game-high 21 points from LaToya Carson, and a defensive effort that held the Southland Conference's second leading scorer LaToya Mills to 11 points, the Lamar Lady Cardinals could not hold off the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks Thursday night, falling 80-58 in the Montagne Center.

Lamar and Stephen F. Austin played battled to a 20-20 tie 13 minutes into the contest , before the Ladyjacks outscored LU 19-10 over the final 7:20 of the first half to open up a 39-30 halftime lead. The scoring outburst by SFA was triggered by three 3-pointers by Brittany Vinson who scored all of her 11 first half points in the final 7:20.

The Lady Cardinals trimmed the Ladyjack lead to seven points on the opening possession of the second half when Carson knocked down a jump shot in the paint, but that was as close as Lamar would get, as SFA methodically pulled away in the second half.

One of the keys in the game for the Lady Cardinals was their 25 turnovers, the second most turnovers in a game this season for LU. The Ladyjacks were able to score 23 points off of Lamar turnovers, while giving up the ball just 14 times of their own.

Adding to Carson's 21 point effort was Audrea Samuel, who scored 15 points for the Lady Cardinals, while blocking four shots and collecting a steal, while Shaquita Coffey came off the bench to score 10 points.

Despite holding SFA to a 38.8 shooting percentage for the game, the Lady Cardinals were outrebounded 41 to 33 in the contest while the Ladyjacks connected on 11 of 23 shots from behind the three point line.

Leading the way for Stephen F. Austin was Kirby Killingsworth who poured in 17 points on six of nine shooting, including three of five from behind the arc. Vinson scored 16 points in the contest, while Mills and Jennifer Simpson each tallied 11.

The Lady Cardinals will be in action again Saturday afternoon when they take on the Lady Mavericks of Texas-Arlington at 2 p.m. in Arlington.