BEAUMONT, Texas – JaMeisha Edwards' Lamar University teammates weren't going to let her special night be ruined with a loss on Thursday night.
 
Edwards became the 13^th player in LU women's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point plateau and the Cardinals got big efforts from freshman Kiara Desamours and senior Addesha Collins to rally for a 75-70 victory over visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Montagne Center.
 
"You don't want to lose on a night when you get your 1,000^th point and we weren't going to let that happen to JaMeisha," said Desamours, who scored a career-high 21 points, 15 of those in the second half as the Cardinals (6-8 overall, 2-1 Southland) battled back from a 13-point deficit late in the third quarter.
 
Edwards finished with 19 points to move into 12^th place on LU's all-time scoring list with 1,014 points. Edwards moved past Cassie Brooks, who finished her career with 1,010 points. Next up is Carolyn Ford, who sits in 11^th place with 1,056 points.
 
Edwards reached the milestone with 47 seconds remaining in the first quarter scoring on a layup off an assist from Lejha Smith.
 
"I wasn't nervous, I knew it would come eventually," Edwards said of her 1,000th point. "But I am glad to get it out of the way."
 
The Cardinals won for the first time all season when trailing after three quarters. A big reason was the play of Collins, the senior guard who led all scorers with 25 points. Collins netted 19 points in the second half.
 
Collins has scored in double figures in six straight games, and is averaging 18.7 points per game in that span.
 
"Addesha was dominant in the second half," LU coach Robin Harmony said. "She was taking the ball to the hoop and drawing fouls. She made some big shots when we needed them."
 
LU was outrebounded 48-28, but forced the Islanders (3-10, 0-2) into 31 turnovers, the most by an LU opponent this season. Freshman guard Chastadie Barrs tied a career high with seven steals.
 
The Islanders drained 11 3-pointers in the game, led by Brittany Mbamalu, who came off the bench to hit seven treys on her way to a 23-point night. As a team, the islanders were 11-of-29 (37.9 percent) from beyond the arc.
 
They hit some shots from way out," Harmony said. "That's going to happen at times."
 
The Cardinals, who won back-to-back games for the first time this season, leave Sunday for a two-game road swing. LU is at Central Arkansas at 5:30 p.m. Monday before heading to Southeastern Louisiana for a 7 p.m. game on Jan. 14.
 
"The bus trip is a lot better after a win," Harmony said of the trek to Central Arkansas. "Hopefully we continue to play the way we can and get two road wins. That would make the bus trip back from Southeastern Louisiana even better."
 
The Cardinals' next home game is 2 p.m. Jan. 16 against Northwestern state. For ticket information, call 409-880-1715, or visit www.LamarCardinals.com.