Jan. 26, 2008

BEAUMONT - Despite turning the ball over a season-high 26 times on Saturday afternoon, the Lamar University women's basketball team held on for a 57-46 win over Northwestern State behind solid shooting and winning the battle on the boards.

Lamar improves to 12-6 on the year and 5-0 in Southland Conference play with the win, while Northwestern State falls to 8-11 overall and 1-5 in conference. At 5-0 the Lady Cardinals are the only unbeaten team in the conference after Texas State fell to UTSA in San Marcos this afternoon.

Leading by four at halftime at 32-28, the Lady Cardinals could not find a rhythm in the early going of the second half. Northwestern State used a 7-2 run to grab a one point lead at 35-34 with 15:48 to play.

After a slow five minutes of play which saw the two teams score a combined two points, the Lady Cardinals grabbed a 37-36 lead on an Aida Bakhos lay up with 11:24 to play. The layup gave LU the lead for good, as their defense shut down Northwestern State over the final 11 minutes.

Over the final 11 minutes of the game the Lady Cardinals used a 19-11 run to close the door on the Lady Demons. The run was keyed by a solid offensive effort in which LU only turned the ball over one time in the final 6:34 of the contest.

Nikki Williams finished with a game-high 13 points, while Brittney Williams scored 12 points for the Lady Cards. Aida Bakhos narrowly missed her second double-double of the season with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Trashanna Smith had a solid effort off the bench with seven points and a career-high eight rebounds.

The Lady Demons had no players score in double figures in the game, but Renotta Edwards, Brooke Shepherd and Jessica McPhail each finished with nine points. Tena Matthews, who was averaging 21.4 points and 12.2 rebounds in conference play, was held to eight points and six rebounds.

As a team the Lady Cardinals shot 43.8 percent from the field while holding Northwestern State to 31.5 percent. Lamar also won the rebounding battle 43 to 31.

The Lady Cardinals will be in action again next Saturday afternoon when host McNeese State at 4 p.m. at the Montagne Center.