March 12, 2009
KATY, Texas - The No. 4 seed Lamar University women's basketball team used a strong defensive effort, combined with clutch free throw shooting to post a 76-64 win over No. 5 seed Stephen F. Austin the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center in Katy Texas Wednesday night.
Leading 35-27 at halftime, the Lady Cardinals quickly extended their lead to 14 points, outscoring the Ladyjacks in 10-4 in the first four and a half minutes of the second half. They opened the gap to 19 points with 13:38 to play when freshman Ang Green drained her second three pointer of the half., giving LU a 50-31 lead.
After Green's triple, the Lady Cardinals offense went cold, not scoring for six minutes. While the offense was absent the LU defense remained in control, only allowing SFA to score six points. SLC Newcomer of the Year Darika Hill snapped the Lamar drought with a three pointer from the top of the key and Nikki Williams followed with a three pointer of her own on the next possession, boosting the lead to 19 points at 56-37 with 6:24 to play.
The Lady Cards extended their lead to a game-high 20 points on a Hill lay up with 4:37 to play, and appeared to have the Ladyjacks buried. Stephen F. Austin however would not go down without a fight.
The Ladyjacks used a 21-9 run over the next four minutes to close within eight points with 56 second to play. Ebony Alexander led the charge for SFA, scoring 12 of their 21 points, three of which came on deep three point shots.
But SFA was not able to get any closer than eight points though, as the Lady Cards used clutch free throw shooting in the final 2:11 to hold on for the win. Nikki Williams led the way for LU at the charity stripe, knocking down seven of her eight freebies, while the team went 14-14 to close out the game.
In the first half the Lady Cardinals were led by a dominant offensive performance by Brittney Williams, who scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting, including a three pointer from the top of the key. Lamar led for the majority of the half and was up by as much as 10 points before carrying an eight point lead at 35-27 into the locker room.
Nikki Williams finished with a game-high 21 points while adding six rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead LU to the victory. Brittney Williams and Hill also had strong performances, finishing with 15 points and six rebounds and 14 points and nine boards respectively. Trashanna Smith was dominant for LU in the post, scoring 10 points, while adding seven rebounds, five blocks and five assists.
As a team the Lady Cardinals finished the game with a 40.4 shooting percentage, knocking down 23 of 57 shots from the field, while their defense held SFA to 35.2 percent shooting. The Ladyjacks won the rebounding battle 45 to 40, but Lamar had just 13 turnovers, while the Jacks gave it away 18 times.
With the win the Lady Cardinals improve to 20-10 on the year. It is the first time the Lamar women's team has registered 20 wins in a season since the 1991-92 team posted a 21-7 record. With the loss Stephen F. Austin finishes their season with a 15-14 record.
Lamar will be back in action on Friday afternoon at 2:30 when they take on the No.1 seed UT Arlington. The two teams split their season series with the home team winning on both occasions.
