Jan. 14, 2009
BEAUMONT - The Lamar University women's basketball team used a strong defensive performance and clutch rebounding to post a 65-60 win over the Mavericks of UT Arlington at the Montagne Center Wednesday night.
The Lady Cardinals improve to 10-5 on the year and 1-1 in conference play with the win, while UTA falls to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in league play.
Leading by eight points at halftime at 36-28, the Lady Cardinals never trailed in the second half, despite several strong runs by the Mavericks. Arlington managed to tie the game once during the final 20 minutes, but Lamar quickly answered to preserve the win.
Arlington started the second half with a three pointer by Tamara Simmons to cut the Lady Cardinals lead to five points, and slowly crawled back into the game as neither team could put together any sort of momentum. The Mavericks tied the game at 53-53 with a LaTosha Duffey three pointer with 5:25 to play in the game, but Lamar quickly answered back.
Freshman guard Ang Green knocked down a jumper in the paint on the Lady Cards next possession, and one play later Darika Hill buried a long three pointer from the win to put Lamar up 58-55 with 4:46 to play. After the five point outburst the Lady Cards never trailed, icing the game with several clutch free throws and timely rebounding.
After Arlington cut the margin to two points with 21 seconds to play, Nikki Williams sank a pair of free throws to put Lamar up by four points, and after Brittney Williams missed the front end of a one and one attempt, Trashanna Smith grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Smith knocked down the first of two freebies, finishing the scoring and giving LU the 65-60 win.
In the first half the Lady Cardinals used a big run over the final eight minutes of the half to take an eight point advantage into the locker room. Leading by one point with 8:09 to play, Nikki Williams drained a triple to go up by four and a Brittney Williams jumper gave Lamar a six point advantage with 3:52 to play.
An Emily Spickler three pointer with 35 second to play game Lu their largest lead of the game at nine points, but UTA knocked down their only three pointer of the half 11 second later cutting it back to a six point Lamar lead. Green finished off the half for LU with a long jumper with two seconds to play, putting LU up 36-28 at the break.
Nikki Williams finished with a season-high 22 points for Lamar, while Brittney Williams and Smith each finished with a double-double in points and rebounds. Brittney Williams tallied 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Smith joined her with 12 boards and 10 points.
Behind the strong rebounding effort of Williams and Smith, the Lady Cardinals won the rebounding battle, grabbing 44 boards to the Mavs 40. Lamar also used a strong inside presence on the defensive end of the floor, blocking seven shots, while Arlington sent away just three shots. For the game LU shot 39.3 percent from the filed, while the Mavericks shot 35.9 percent.
The Lady Cardinals will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 when they host rival McNeese State at the Montagne Center.
