BEAUMONT, Texas - The Lamar Lady Cardinals found a way to continue their dominance of Nicholls at home, holding on for a 67-62 win over the Colonels in a Southland Conference women's basketball game at the Montagne Center on Saturday.

Led by 20 points and seven assists from JaMeisha Edwards, Lamar (4-8 overall, 1-0 Southland) improved to 17-2 all-time against Nicholls in Beaumont. Lamar leads the overall series 21-14.

"Every game in the conference is going to be a hard-fought one," Lamar coach Robin Harmony said. "We kept battling and found a way to win."

Edwards had 10 points in each half for Lamar, helping seal the win by going 5-of-6 from the foul line in the second half. Edwards was 7-of-8 from the line for the game. Her seven assists tied a career high.

"I didn't have my best shooting game. I know I can do better than 5-of-19, but I'm glad I could contribute to the win," Edwards said.

Addesha Collins came off the bench to score 13 points for Lamar, while Baileigh O'Dell had 12 points.

Lamar outrebounded Nicholls 44-41 for the game after being outrebounded 21-20 in the first half. Lejha Smith had a career-high eight rebounds to lead Lamar.

"Our coaches told us at halftime that we needed to do a better job of rebounding, said "O'Dell, who finished with five rebounds. "That's something we focused on in the second half."

Jenny Nash had 15 points to lead Nicholls (4-8, 0-1), while Tia Charles finished with 11 points. The Colonels hurt themselves with 28 turnovers that led to 29 points.

I was very happy with the way our defense played," Harmony said. "That's the type of effort I like to see."

The Lady Cardinals take to the road for a pair of Southland Conference games next week. Lamar is at New Orleans at 5:30 p.m. Monday and at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. Thursday. Lamar's next home game is 7 p.m. Jan. 13 against Central Arkansas.

"I'd rather have these road games early in the conference season, especially when we're not in school," Harmony said. Better now than at the end of the season when teams get tired."

Both road contests will be broadcast live on www.LamarCardinals.com.

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