CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – DeA'ngela Mathis scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Lamar University Cardinals to a convincing 70-31 win over the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in a Southland Conference women's basketball game Saturday.
 
Mathis, who made her first start of the season, scored 18 points after intermission as the Cardinals (7-5 overall, 2-0 Southland) improved to 14-9 all-time against the Islanders. Mathis' previous career high was a 15-point effort against Howard Payne earlier this season.
 
"DeA'ngela was a junior college All-American, and we were waiting for her to have a breakout game," LU coach Robin Harmony said. "She had that tonight. We think that will help her confidence. With her in the starting lineup, we have another offensive weapon. It really makes a big difference. It gives us another option."
 
Moe Kinard added 17points and a game-high nine rebounds for LU as the Cardinals own the two largest margins of victory thus far in conference play this year.
 
LU committed a season-low seven turnovers, while the Islanders (7-6, 0-2) committed 26 turnovers. As a result, LU had a 26-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
"We did a great job protecting the ball while creating a lot of turnovers," Harmony said. "Those turnovers are our offense. That's 66 turnovers by our opponents in our first two conference games. That really helps our offense."
 
Chastadie Barrs and Jadyn Pimentel each had three steals for LU. Barrs now has at least one steal in all 73 games in her career. The junior boosted her career total to 342 steals, 17 shy of the Southland Conference record of 359 held by Nina Randle of Louisiana-Monroe. Barrs added a game-high six assists in the win.
 
Kiandra Bowers and Baileigh O'Dell had nine points apiece for LU. Bowers added six rebounds, giving her 731 for her career, pushing her past Dominique Edwards for sixth place on LU's all-time list.
 
The Cardinals led 12-6 after one quarter before blowing the game wide open by outscoring the Islanders 21-5 in the second period to take a 33-11 lead into the locker room. The Cardinals dominated the second half as well, outscoring the Islanders 23-12 in the third period and 14-8 in the final stanza. The Islanders' 31 points were the fewest by an LU opponent this season.
 
Both teams pulled down 37 rebounds, but LU had a 22-2 edge in second-chance points.
 
Uri Jolivette and Emma Young had six points apiece to lead Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders shot just 27.9 percent (12-of-43) from the field, while going 0-of-8 from 3-point range.
 
The Cardinals return home to host New Orleans (5-8, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Montagne Center in a Southland Conference clash. There will be free T-shirts courtesy of Coca-Cola while supplies last. In addition, fans will have the opportunity to win LU merchandise as part of the New Year, New Gear! promotion. The LU freshmen will sign autographs for all fans after the game.
 
TICKETS: For tickets, please call 409-880-1715, or CLICK HERE. The Montagne Center ticket office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. It reopens one hour prior to tipoff on weeknights and weekends. LU students receive free admission to home games with their Cardinal One card, while Junior Cardinal Club members are admitted for free when they present their membership badge.