BEAUMONT, Texas – The 2017-18 season was a memorable one for the Lamar University women's basketball team, as the Cardinals won a Southland Conference regular-season title, made another national postseason appearance and saw a player etch her name into the NCAA record book.
 
The Cardinals finished the season with a 22-8 record, including a school-record 17 conference wins, posting a 17-1 conference record to win the Southland Conference title outright for the first time in program history. The Cardinals were co-champions in 2010 and 2014. The Cardinals finished with an RPI of 98, the best in the Southland Conference this season, and LU's second-best RPI as a Southland Conference member.
 
LU participated in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the sixth time in the past nine years that the Cardinals have competed on a national stage in the postseason. Meanwhile junior guard Chastadie Barrs equaled the NCAA single-season record for steals, finishing with 191 thefts. Barrs, who won the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year Award for an unprecedented third time, led the nation in steals for the second straight year. She was second in the nation with a Southland Conference record four triple-doubles.
 
Barrs, who returns for her senior season in 2018-19, already holds the Southland Conference career record for steals with 456. The guard, who has at least one steal in all 91 career games, is taking aim at the NCAA career record of 624 held by Natalie White of Florida A&M.
 
The Cardinals were invincible at home, going 13-0 at the Montagne Center, extending their home-court winning streak to 28 games, the second-longest in the nation, behind only the UConn Huskies. The 28 straight home wins are just one shy of the Southland Conference record.
 
The Cardinals were well represented when the Southland Conference distributed the postseason hardware. Not only was Barrs, the Defensive Player of the Year, she was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection along with teammate Moe Kinard. Graduate student Kiandra Bowers was a second-team all-conference selection at post, and joined Barrs as members of the All-Defensive Team. Senior DeA'ngela Mathis was a third-team all-conference pick, while guard Jadyn Pimentel was named the SLC's Freshman of the Year.
 
In addition, LU coach Robin Harmony was named the Southland Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, marking the first time an LU coach received the award.
 
Barrs wasn't the only one putting her name in the record books. Bowers finished her stellar LU career with 1,254 points, ninth on LU's all-time chart, and with 943 rebounds, the second-highest total in LU history. Bowers' 241 career steals are fourth all-time at LU.
 
Bowers, who led the nation in offensive rebounding as a junior, finished second this season, pulling down an average of 5.73 offensive boards per game.
 
Guard Baileigh O'Dell finished her career with the Red and White with 181 successful 3-point field goals, tied for second all-time at LU
 
Successful in the classroom as well as on the court, LU led the way with three selections on the conference's all-academic squad. Barrs and Kinard were named to the first team, while Bowers was a second-team pick.
 
Kinard, who led the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game, is sixth all-time at LU in 3-point field goals with 136.
 
As a team, the Cardinals led the nation in four categories. LU was tops with 511 steals and an average of 17.0 steals per game. The Cardinals also paced the nation by forcing 27.63 turnovers per game and in turnover margin at plus 12.97 per game.
 
The Cardinals also paid homage to their rich tradition, as the uniforms of former greats Carolyn Ford, Carol Sims and Kalis Loyd were retired in an emotional ceremony at halftime of LU's win over Stephen F. Austin.
 
While the Cardinals lose three players to graduation in Bowers, Mathis and O'Dell, LU returns three starters (Barrs, Kinard and Pimentel) along with a solid core of returners who will battle for starting spots in 2018-19. In addition, the Cardinals boast of another recruiting class that was ranked the best in the Southland Conference, as they look to once again contend for a Southland Conference title in what will be the 50^th season of women's basketball at Lamar University.