BEAUMONT, Texas – Moe Kinard's career-high 27 points powered the Lamar University Cardinals to a 94-55 win over the visiting Louisiana College Wildcats in a non-conference women's basketball game at the Montagne Center on Thursday night.
 
Kinard also added 10 rebounds for her second career double-double as the Cardinals (6-3) ran their winning streak to five games.
 
"I just let the game come to me," Kinard said. "I did what I could, I crashed the boards."
 
 LU never trailed in the game, taking control of the contest early with a 17-2 run to give the Cardinals a 21-6 lead with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter.
 
"Tonight, we got off to a good start," LU coach Robin Harmony said. "We scored quickly. I thought we played a good first and second quarter."
 
The Cardinals led 29-9 after one quarter and 55-19 at intermission, allowing Harmony to give extensive playing time to the LU bench.
 
"We struggled a little bit in the third and fourth quarters," Harmony said. "We're trying to give minutes to players who aren't accustomed to it. We're living with their mistakes, but if we don't allow them to make them now, they'll do the same thing in conference. They're going to learn from this."
 
Louisiana College had trouble with LU's press, as the Wildcats committed 36 turnovers, the most by an LU opponent this season.  Chastadie Barrs, who leads the Southland Conference in steals, had six thefts on Thursday. She now has at least one steal in all 40 games in her career. Barrs, who also leads the conference in assists, handed out five more on Thursday.
 
"We took our press off in the second half," Harmony said. "We gave them some open shots. But it's a learning experience. If we're not pressing, we need to fix our quarter-court defense."
 
LU made Louisiana College pay for its turnovers, as the Cardinals held a 48-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
"We hang our hats on our defense," said LU's Kiandra Bowers, who had a season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals. "We had some breakdowns, but we did some good things."
 
The Wildcats also had no answer for LU's inside game, as the Cardinals outscored the Wildcats 56-22 in the paint.
 
Kiandra Bowers added a season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds in the win, while LU freshman Briana Laidler finished with a career-high 11 points.
 
"Brooke Comeaux came off the bench to lead the Wildcats with 11 points.
 
The Cardinals take a break for Christmas before returning to action at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29 when they host Howard Payne in the final non-conference game of the season. LU opens Southland Conference play at 2 p.m. Dec. 31 at Central Arkansas.
 
"We have to do something on the break to stay conditioned," Harmony said. "We have to be ready to play when we come back."
 
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