Feb. 18, 2009
BEAUMONT - Darika Hill hit big shots all night for the Lamar University women's basketball team, but none was bigger than her jumper at the free throw line with 17 seconds to play in overtime as it lifted the Lady Cardinals to an 89-88 overtime victory over Sam Houston State at the Montagne Center on Wednesday night.
After Nikki Williams drained a top of the jumper to tie the game at 79 with 19 second to play in regulation, Brittney Williams blocked a Leasa Ailshie lay up with 11 seconds, giving the Bearkats one last chance. Nikki Williams then produced a block of her own, stuffing a Britni Martin three pointer with three seconds to play to force overtime.
Sam Houston appeared to have the game in the bag, jumping out with a 7-0 run to begin the extra period, but LU would not go down without a fight. The Lady Cardinals answered with an 8-0 run of their own to take an 87-86 lead with 46 seconds to play. The Lamar run was capped off by an Ang Green jumper, but Martin responded for the Bearkats with a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining, setting up the heroics by Hill.
Hill drained the jumper when Green found her at the top of the key with 17 seconds to play, giving Lamar the 89-88 advantage. With 17 ticks left on the clock Sam Houston was able to set up one last chance at pulling out the win.
Martin inbounds the ball to Brittany Brooks and received the ball back on the right wing where she worked her way towards the paint. After Hill and Brittney Williams closed out, the SHSU freshman fired up a contested jumper which bounced off the rim and into the hand of Brittney Williams as the buzzer sounded.
The win boosts the Lady Cardinals to 17-7 overall and improves their record in Southland Conference play to 8-3. With the loss Sam Houston falls to 7-17 overall and 4-8 in SLC play.
In the first half the Lady Cardinals were led by Hill, who scored 12 of the teams first 15 points with lights out shooting. The junior from New Iberia, La. drained three first half 3-pointers and finished the opening 20 minutes with 15 points, as LU led 40-39 at the break.
The Lady cards opened up as much as a 10-point lead, with 8:11 to play in the first half, but Sam Houston fought back to close the gap to one point, behind the play of Martin who had 11 points.
Hill finished the game with a career-high 26 points on 11-19 shooting from the field, while Nikki Williams finished with a double-double, scoring 21 points and passing out 10 assists. Green also tallied a career-high in scoring, pouring in 19 points off the bench, while Brittney Williams narrowly missed a double-double, with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Sam Houston was led by Martin, who scored a career and game-high 31 points on 11-21 shooting, including a 7-12 performance from behind the three point arc. Ray Alexander and Brittany Brooks were also strong for the Kats, scoring 18 and 17 points respectively, while Bre Agnew tallied 10 points.
As a team the Lady Cardinals had a dominant night on the stat sheet, shooting 53.6 percent from the field on 37-69 shooting while out rebounding the Bearkats 48 to 36. Sam Houston shot 46.8 percent from the field with a 35-80 performance, but was able to stay with the hot shooting Lady Cards because of 23 LU turnovers which led to 25 Bearkat points.
The Lady Cardinals will return to the road on Saturday for a showdown with SLC East division leader Northwestern State at 2 p.m.
