March 21, 2010

AUSTIN, Texas - The Lamar University women's basketball team saw its magical season come to an end with a 58-43 loss to West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night.

"I'm very proud of this team," Lamar coach Larry Tidwell said. "We got down early, but we fought back and never quit."

Kalis Loyd led Lamar (26-8) with 15 points. Jenna Plumley had nine points and tied her career high with seven rebounds. Darkia Hill added seven points for the Lady Cardinals.

"We wanted to pull an upset, but we didn't," Plumley said. "Still, we left it all out there on the court."

West Virginia (29-5) took an early 12-0 lead and never trailed. Lamar would cut the lead to eight points in the second half, but got no closer.

"I wasn't thinking about the score," Plumley said. "All I had in my head was that we just had to get back into the game. I was trying to get the ball to my teammates. When you get down like that, it's really tough."

Liz Repella led the Mountaineers with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sarah Miles added 11 points for West Virginia.

Plumley ended the season with a Southland Conference-record 110 3-pointers and a school record 224 assists. Brittney Williams had four points to end her career with 483 points, the third most in school history. Williams played in 123 games, a Lamar record, and is fourth on the all-time rebounding chart with 716.

LAMAR