Dec. 7, 2010

BEAUMONT, Texas - Kalis Loyd's double-double propelled the Lamar University women's basketball team to an 87-54 win over visiting Southern University in a non-conference game at the Montagne Center on Tuesday afternoon.

Loyd, the reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week, followed up her career-high 34-point performance against Cal Poly by scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as Lamar (7-3) ran its winning streak at the Montagne Center to 17 games.

Monique Whittaker led the Lady Cardinals with 17 points. Jenna Plumley had 15 points and seven assists, while Taylor Hays came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points as Lamar won its second consecutive game.

The Lady Cardinals got a boost from the crowd of 2,367 fans, many of them students from the Beaumont Independent School District who were on hand for the annual Character Counts presentation.

"It was great playing in front of all those kids," Hays said. "I just came in from taking a test, and I loved seeing all of those kids here. I played for them as well as for my team."

The Lady Cardinals were a sizzling 48.1 percent(13-of-27) from 3-point range. The 13 treys were a season high for Lamar.

"I love shooting in this building," said Plumley, who was 5-of-8 from downtown. "I love the rims and I feel very comfortable here."

Freda Allen led Southern (2-4) with 12 points.

Lamar is idle until 1 p.m. Dec. 19 when it hosts Houston Baptist in a non-conference game.

"With all of these fans out here today, and after they saw how well we can play, I hope they will come back again," Lamar coach Larry Tidwell said. "I have some really first-class players, and they gave these fans a first-class performance today."

For ticket information, call (409) 880-1715, or visit www.LamarCardinals.com.

LAMAR