Nov. 24, 2007
BEAUMONT - Behind a record setting performance by freshman Tamara Abalde, the Lamar University women's basketball team notched their third straight victory with a 71-47 win over Wiley College at the Montage Center on Saturday afternoon.
Abalde tied the Lady Cardinals single game scoring record of 44 points, knocking down 78 percent of her shots from the field and sinking all 13 of her free throws. She tied the record set by Lara Webb who poured in 44 points against TCU on March 3, 1996.
Holding an eight point lead at halftime at 27-19, the Lady Cardinals looked to Abalde in the second half, and the freshman responded with a lights out shooting display. She knocked down her first shot of the half, a three pointer, with 16:26 to play and continued to stay hot as she finished the half 7-8 from the field and 11-11 from the charity stripe for 27 points.
Leading 36-31 with 13:25 to play, Lamar began to pull away, using a 24-9 run to blow the game open at 60-40. The run started with a pair of Brittney Williams free throws and was fueled by Abalde who scored 14 points.
After the Lady Cardinals opened their lead to 20 points the Lady Wildcats were only able to get as close as 17 points on a pair of Linda Emeghebo free throws with 3:50 to play. Lamar closed out the game with an 11-7 run, finishing off Wiley 71-47.
In the first half the Lady Cardinals struggled to get their offense going, as Wiley used a scrappy defensive performance to keep LU off balance. Lamar finally found their touch from the field in the closing moments of the half, finishing with a 37.9 percent shooting performance, knocking down 11-29 shots from the field.
The Lady Cards returned the favor to the Lady Wildcats with a solid defensive effort of their own, holding WC to just 22.2 percent shooting from the field. Wiley only managed to make six of their 27 shots in the half.
In addition to Abalde's record setting night, Williams turned in solid offensive performance with 14 points on four of eight shooting from the field, while sinking six of her eight free throws. Aida Bakhos had another solid night on the glass for Lamar, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.
Wiley College was led by Ciara Sanders who scored 14 points. Lavannah White and LaToya Murray chipped in with nine and eight points respectively for the Lady Wildcats.
The Lady Cardinals, who improve to 4-2 on the year with the win, will be in action again on Tuesday night when they host the IUPUI Lady Jaguars at 7:00 at the Montagne Center.
