March 1, 2007
BEAUMONT, Texas - With a trip to the Southland Conference tournament on the line, the Lamar University women's basketball turned to a pair of seniors, who led them to a 70-52 win over the Nicholls State lady Colonels at the Montagne Center on Thursday night.
Seniors Dionne Pounds and LaToya Carson made sure the Lady Cardinals were going to win their final game on the Montagne Center floor, as the two combined for 40 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. The win improves Lamar's record to 12-16 on the year and 7-8 in SLC play, while Nicholls falls to 6-20 and 4-11.
Leading by four at halftime, the Lady Cardinals opened the second half on an 11-0 run to open up a 15-point lead, and never looked back. The run was started with a three pointer by Dionne Pounds and was capped by a three point play by Pounds, giving LU a 43-28 lead with 17:16 to play.
Nicholls made a strong run at the Lady Cards over the next 10 minutes, closing to within six points at 55-49 with 7:35 to play. Six points was as close as the Lady Colonels would get though, as Lamar responded with a smothering defensive effort to close out the game.
The Lady Cardinals allowed Nicholls to hit one field goal, and just three points to close out the game. While their defense took over, the LU offense scored 15 points down the stretch to pull away.
The Lady Colonels started the game strong, jumping out to an eight point lead at 19-11 in the first 10 minutes of play. Lamar was unable to match the Nicholls quick pace which led to several open layups and eight free throws.
The Lady Cards found their offense over the final 10 minutes of the half, getting the ball inside for easy layups of their own. It took just three minutes and a half for LU to erase the deficit, taking the lead for good on a three pointer by Pounds with 7:57 to play.
Pounds, who scored 16 of her game-high 27 points in the second half, also kept her teammates involved offensively with four assists, while collecting six rebounds. Carson finished the game with her third double-double of the year, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Freshman Brittney Williams also had a solid night for LU, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine boards.
Nicholls was led by Jamie Octave who scored 16 points, while Claire Barry chipped in with 15 points.
As a team the Lady Cardinals out shot Nicholls 48.3 percent to 31.5 percent, and dominated on the boards to a tune of 47 to 27. The Lady Cardinals were also solid from the free throw line, knocking down 12 of 15 from the charity stripe, while Nicholls was 16 of 15 from the line.
The Lady Cardinals will be in action again on Sunday afternoon, when they wrap up the regular season at Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m.
