Feb. 10, 2007
San Marcos, Texas - The road remained unkind for the Lamar University women's basketball team on Saturday, as they fell to the Texas State Bobcats 69-60 at Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos, Texas.
The Lady Cardinals could not get into an offensive rhythm early in the game, and the stale start led to an early lead for the Bobcats. Texas State jumped out to a 13-4 lead six minutes into the game, and did not allow Lamar to get any closer than seven points for the remainder of the half.
The Lady Cards closed the gap to seven points at 33-26 at the break on three free throws over the final 1:17.
Freshman Brittney Williams provided over half of the Lady Cardinals scoring in the opening 20 minutes of the ball game, pouring in 14 points on six of nine shooting from the field.
Lamar appeared poised to break out of their road woes in the beginning of the second half, as they closed to within three points with 18:30 to play. Dionne Pounds sank a three pointer to begin the second half and then made one of two free throws on the Cards next possession closing the gap to 33-30.
The Bobcats however responded with a 9-0 run to get back up by double digits, a deficit Lamar was never able to recover from.
The Lady Cards made several runs at the Cats as the second half dwindled don, but Texas State answered ever LU charge with a run of their own. The Lady Cards got as close as seven points with 1:23 to play, but Texas State ripped off four straight points to put the game out of reach.
For the game the Lady Cardinals were led by Williams 18 points, while LaToya Carson and Pounds added 14 and 12 points respectively.
Texas State was led by Erica Putnam's 20 points and nine rebounds, while Joyce Ekwormadu added 18 points and nine boards for the Bobcats. Also coming up big for the Cats was Aimee Hilburn who led them with 14 rebounds and nine points.
The biggest factor in the loss for the Lady Cards was their inability to rebound the ball against the Bobcats, as Texas State won the battle of the boards 49-29. The Lady Cardinals also had an uncharacteristically bad shooting night, knocking down just 35.6 percent of their shots, while the Bobcats shot 41.8 percent.
The Lady Cards will be in action again on Thursday night when they return to Southland Conference East division play, taking on Central Arkansas at 7 p.m. in the Montagne Center.
