Jan. 28, 2009

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Lamar University women's basketball team could not break the Sam Houston State home court winning streak Wednesday night, falling to the Bearkats 90-77 at Johnson Coliseum.

The loss gives the Lady Cardinals a season record of 13-6 and gives them a 4-2 record in Southland Conference play. Sam Houston improves to 6-11 overall and 3-2 in SLC play with the win, all three wins coming on their home floor.

The Lady Cardinals struggled to get their offense going from the opening tip, and Sam Houston raced out to an early lead to set the tone in the game. Lamar closed the gap and took a one point lead at 26-25 with 3:51 to play in the first half, but the Bearkats closed the half on a 9-2 run to take a 34-28 lead into the break.

In the second half Lamar saw Sam Houston extend their lead to double digits in the first three and a half minutes, putting the LU in a tough hole to climb out of.

Down by 14 at 61-47 with 10:10 to play in the game, the Lady Cardinals began to chip away at the SHSU lead. Lamar closed to within two points at 73-71 on an Ang Green three pointer, but that was as close as they would get as Sam Houston finished the game on a 17-6 run for the 90-77 win.

Brittney Williams led the way for Lamar with 19 points, while Darika Hill had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Green finished the game with 13 points while Emily Spickler and Nikki Williams each tallied 10 points.

As a team the Lady Cardinals out shot Sam Houston 43.3 percent to 41.9 percent, but the Kats won the rebounding battle 43 to 36.

The Lady Cardinals will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when they travel to San Antonio, Texas to face the UTSA Roadrunners.