BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar women's basketball coach Robin Harmony wanted to know how her team would respond after suffering its first Southland Conference loss of the season. She had to be pleased with the answer she received.

Harmony saw her Lady Cardinals dominate from start to finish in an 82-46 victory over visiting Central Arkansas at the Montagne Center on Tuesday night.

“We had a tough loss at Corpus Christi on Thursday, but we came out determined and focused tonight,” Harmony said. “This was a flashback to last year when we won the conference championship. This was definitely our best effort of the season.”

The Lady Cardinals (6-9 overall, 3-1 Southland) never trailed in this one, holding Central Arkansas without a field goal for the first 9:50 of the contest, as Lamar built a 20-3 lead. Central Arkansas' first field goal was a layup by Raquel Martin with 10:10 remaining in the opening half.

JaMeisha Edwards led Lamar with 24 points, while Dominique Edwards had 16 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season and 16^th of her career.

“When JaMeisha and Dominique play well and we defend, it makes our scoring easier,” Harmony said. “We're a good team. The only team that can stop Lamar women's basketball is Lamar women's basketball.”

The Lady Cardinals shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the field for the game, including 40 percent (8-of-20) from 3-point range. Defensively, Lamar forced 29 Central Arkansas turnovers, as the Lady Cardinals outscored the Sugar Bears 38-6 in points off turnovers.

“Our coaches keep telling us that when you have a team down, don't let up. That's what we did tonight,” Dominique Edwards said.

Lamar outscored Central Arkansas 29-18 in bench points as Harmony gave her starters plenty of rest. No starter played more than 29 minutes as Harmony tried to keep her troops fresh at the start of a three-games-in-five-days stretch. The Lady Cardinals host Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. Thursday before heading to conference-leading Northwestern State at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“It could come down to the end in those two games, and we need our starters to be able to give that something extra,” Harmony said. “Our reserves came in and did a great job.”

Lamar's Shauna Long moved into third place on Lamar's all-time list for 3-pointers with 132 when she drained a trey with 6:29 remaining in the first half. Brenda Hatchett is second with 181. Jenna Plumley holds the Lamar record with 204.

With her 16 points, Dominique Edwards boosted her career total to 955, as she looks to become the 12^th player in program history to score at least 1,000 points.

Jameka Watkins led Central Arkansas (9-6, 2-2) with 12 points.

Thursday's game against Southeastern Louisiana will celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the first women's basketball game at the Montagne Center. There will be 1980s music and trivia contests throughout the night.

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

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