BEAUMONT, Texas – DeA'ngela Mathis had a career night to power the Lamar University Cardinals to a 100-77 victory over the visiting New Orleans Privateers in a Southland Conference women's basketball game at the Montagne Center on Wednesday night.
 
Mathis posted career highs of 25 points and nine rebounds as the Cardinals (8-5 overall, 3-0 Southland) won their 20^th straight home game dating back to the start of last season. Mathis has scored 45 points in her last two games.
 
"DeA'ngela gives us another offensive threat," LU coach Robin Harmony said. "She can hit the 3-ball. She can go off the bounce. That's really the difference now."
 
Mathis wasn't the only Cardinals with a monster night. Chastadie Barrs had 24 points, eight assists, eight steals and six rebounds; Moe Kinard netted 24 points, while Kiandra Bowers had 14 points and a career-high 17 rebounds as she collected her 28^th career double-double.
 
With her eight steals, Barrs now has at least at one steal in all 74 career games. The junior now has 350 career steals, nine short of the Southland Conference record of 359 held by Nina Randle of Louisiana-Monroe. Bowers, meanwhile moved past Carolyn Ford into 11^th place on LU's all-time scoring list with 1,066 points. Dominique Edwards is 10^th with 1,110 points.
 
LU led by just three points, 21-18, after one quarter before outscoring the Privateers (5-9, 1-2) 29-13 in the second quarter to take a 50-31 lead into halftime. LU led by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter. Kinard drained five 3-pointers in the second quarter.
 
"It's an adrenaline rush, it really is," Kinard said. "I just knock one down and go to the next."
 
The Privateers had trouble with LU's defense, committing 25 turnovers that led to 32 LU points. The Cardinals, who committed a season-low seven turnovers in Saturday's win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, had just nine turnovers on Wednesday.
 
Randi Brown had 28 points to lead UNO. The Southland Conference's leading scorer was just 8-of-22 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range, but went 11-of-12 from the line. Brown's lone 3-pointer closed out the scoring with 1.4 seconds remaining. Brown had nine points in the fourth quarter.
 
Kayla Mundy had 21 points for UNO, while Whitley Larry came off the bench to register a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
With the win, LU improved to 22-16 all-time vs. the Privateers, including a perfect 7-0 under Harmony.
 
LU takes to the road for the next two games. The Cardinals are at defending Southland Conference champion Central Arkansas at 1 p.m. Saturday (KLVI, AM 560). Central Arkansas improved to 10-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference with a 69-44 home win over Sam Houston State on Wednesday. After that, the Cardinals visit Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. Jan. 10. LU's next home game is 7 p.m. Jan. 17 against Incarnate Word.