Nov. 9, 2012

WACO, Texas - The Lamar Lady Cardinals, like so many other teams, found out just how good the Baylor Lady Bears are.

Baylor, the defending national champion and preseason No. 1 ranked team, posted its 41st consecutive victory with an 80-34 win over Lamar in the season opener for both teams Friday afternoon.

"Baylor is just a tremendous team," Lamar coach Larry Tidwell said. "Not only do they have the best player in the country in Brittney Griner and the best guard in Odyssey Sims, they just have so many McDonald's All-Americans."

The Lady Cardinals hung tough with Baylor for most of the first half, trailing just 40-25 at intermission, but the Lady Bears outscored Lamar 40-9 in the second half.

Kalis Loyd led Lamar with 11 points. Jasmin Henderson came in off the bench to add nine points.

Griner led Baylor with 24 points. Sims had 11 points and eight assists, while Jordan Madden added 10 points for Baylor, which had a 64-10 advantage in points in the paint.

"I'm proud of the way we competed," Tidwell said. "We know we won't see a team that strong in our conference. I know this will get us ready for the rest of the season."

The Lady Cardinals open their home schedule at 7 p.m. Monday when they host UT Tyler at the Montagne Center. For ticket information, call (409) 880-1715, or visit www.LamarCardinals.com.