Feb. 7, 2008

BEAUMONT - Powered by a dominant inside performance and an overwhelming defensive effort in the second half the Lamar University women's basketball team ran away with an 80-55 win over Nicholls State at the Montagne Center Thursday night.

With the win the Lady Cardinals improved to 13-7 overall and 6-1 in Southland Conference play. Nicholls State dropped to 5-14 overall and 3-5 in conference play with the loss.

Leading by three at halftime 39-36, the Lady Cards came out in the second half and locked down Nicholls State on the defensive end of the floor, while their offense continued to play well. Lamar's defense allowed just 19 points over the final 20 minutes, and the offense erupted for 41.

The LU defense, which struggled to slow down Nicholls State's Katherine Plummer in the first half, held the Lady Colonels in check for an 8:56 stretch midway through the second half. During the nearly nine minutes in which NSU did not make a field goal, Lamar went on a 24-3 run to blow the game open.

The Lady Cards offense was paced by their inside play, as Tamara Abalde and Trashanna Smith used their size and quickness in the paint to exploit the Nicholls State defense.

Abalde set the tone for the LU offense in the first half, scoring 17 of her team-high 23 points during the first 20 minutes. Smith followed suit in the second half, scoring 11 of her career-high 16 points. The two players also combined for seven blocks, which is a single game season-high for the Lady Cardinals team. Abalde finished with four blocks and Smith registered three.

Nikki Williams had a solid game for the Lady Cardinals while running the offense, scoring 11 points and passing out six assists.

Nicholls was led by Plummer's game-high 25 points and five assists, while Funaki Kefu posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. No other NSU player had more than five

As a team the Lady Cardinals shot 50.8 percent from the field, knocking down 32 of their 63 shots while Nicholls made just 19 of their 63 shots for 30.2 percent from their field. The Lady Colonels did win the rebounding battle though, grabbing 48 rebounds to LU's 36, but the Lady Cardinals won the ball control battle with just 12 turnovers to Nicholls 14.

The Lady Cardinals will be in action again when they hit the road for a 3 p.m. showdown with Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday in Hammond, La.