Jan. 17, 2009
BEAUMONT - The Lamar University women's basketball team used an 11-2 overtime performance to extend their home winning streak to 11 games Saturday afternoon, taking down the McNeese State Cowgirls 67-58 at the Montagne Center.
The Lady Cardinals improve to 11-5 on the year and 2-1 in conference play with the win, while running their home winning streak to 11 straight. Lamar is 10-0 at home this season and won their final home contest of the 2007-08 seaso0n. McNeese State falls to 8-7 overall and 0-2 in league play with the loss.
After trailing at halftime 29-26, the Lady Cardinals opened the second half with a 4-0 burst to take their first lead of the game at 30-29. The lead was short lived though, as McNeese responded with a 7-2 run to go back up by five points at 37-32.
The string of runs continued, as LU ripped off seven straight to go up by two points, and the game continued on a see-saw pace for the remainder of regulation. McNeese appeared as if they would escape the Montagne Center with a win, leading by four points with 3:44 to play, but the Lady Cards would not allow them to walk away with the victory.
A Nikki Williams three pointer with 3:36 to play brought Lamar with in a point at 52-51, and Darika Hill tied the game with a free throw on Lamar's next possession with 3:08 to play. Lamar held a pair of two-point leads in the final two minutes of play, but McNeese responded both times.
The final basket of regulation was sunk by Cowgirl freshman Caitlyn Baggett with 17 seconds to play, tying the game at 56. Lamar had two attempts at a shot with the clock winding down, but could not knock one down sending the contest to overtime.
In the extra period the lady Cardinals defense clamped down, not allowing the Cowgirls to make a shot as they outscored them 11-2 for the 67-58 win. Nikki Williams scored seven of her game-high 23 points in overtime, going 5-6 from the free throw line.
Nikki Williams led the way for LU in the game, posting her first double-double of the year with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Darika Hill picked up her second double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Brittney Williams also finished the game with double digits in the scoring column with 11. Trashanna Smith, continued her strong work on the boards, pulling down 11.
The strong rebounding effort turned in by the Lady Cardinals played a major role in their ability to pull out the win as they out rebounded McNeese 62-49 for the game. Despite a rough game shooting for Lamar, the Lady Cardinals finished the game with a higher shooting percentage than McNeese, posting a 28.2 percent to 27.7 percent.
The Lady Cardinals will be back in action on Wednesday night when they take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders in Corpus Christi, Texas at 7 p.m.
