Nov. 23, 2010

Freshman Monique Whittaker and Francesca Bellatin each scored career highs to help the Lamar University Lady Cardinals roll to a 78-58 victory over visiting LSU-Shreveport in a non-conference women's basketball game at the Montagne Center on Tuesday night.

Whittaker, a junior transfer from Nebraska, netted 16 points, while Bellatin, a freshman, came off the bench to add 10 points for the Lady Cardinals (3-1), who ran their homecourt winning streak to 16 games dating back to last season.

Kalis Loyd led Lamar with 19 points, while Jenna Plumley added 15 points, six assists and five steals. Sophomore Jasmin Henderson came off the bench to grab a career-high 13 rebounds for Lamar. Plumley has 247 career assists, just two shy of Nikki Wiliams' 249 for third on LU's all-time list.

The Lady Cardinals were 9-of-31 (29.0 percent) from 3-point range, but LSU-Shreveport was just 1-of-14 (7.1 percent) from behind the arc.

"We are settling for perimeter jumpers and 3-pointers too much of the time," Lamar coach Larry Tidwell said. "We need to get more points inside. We have to start pounding the ball inside."

Trashanna Smith, ran her career total to 161 blocks by rejecting seven LSU-Shreveport shots. Smith is 17 blocks shy of the school record 178 set by Uirannah Jackson.

Jenna Diakos led LSU-Shreveport with 14 points, while Najarae Wiley added 12. The Lady Pilots, an NAIA team, considered this game as an exhibition contest and are not counting it in their overall record.

Lamar hits the road for a five-game swing starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Portland in the Houston Baptist Classic. LU will play two games in that tournament, head to Tennesee for a meeting with the powerful Lady Vols on Dec. 1, then head to Arizona State for two games in the ASU Classic before returning home to host Southern at noon Dec. 7.

Tidwell knows the Lady Cardinals need to improve in order to have a chance against tougher competition.

"We are a very, very, very soft team right now," he said. "Unless we decide to get more aggressive, we're not going to be a tough team."

LAMAR