HAMMOND, La. – Led by redshirt senior Amber Vidal, the Lamar University women's basketball program captured its SLC opener over Southeastern Louisiana, 65-57.

Led by the San Antonio, Texas native, the Cardinals took a 22-17 lead into the second quarter. Lamar dominated the quarter as they limited the Lions to just 41 percent from the field, compared to 50 percent from the Cardinals.

The SE Louisiana offense went to work after being down 16-7 at 4:38 left in the first and pushed back into the Lamar lead. It would not be enough as junior Jaydn Pimentel made a deep three at the end of the first to push the lead to 22-17.

The stout defense of Lamar proved to be lethal after limiting the Lion offense to just 4-for-14 from the field in the second. The Cardinals rebounding proved costly for the Lions as they out-rebounded SLU 19-14 in the first half as Lamar took the lead into the break, 37-28.

SE Louisiana found some fire as their offense and defense controlled the pace of the game during the third quarter as they went on to shoot 50 percent while limited the Cardinal offense to just 36.4 percent.
The Lions pulled ahead in the rebound game has the out-rebounded Lamar 10-7 in the third. Sophomore Angel Hastings sank a last second attempt to tie the game, 49-49, heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter saw many ties, but Vidal and the Cardinals were able to hold on to the lead. Pimentel sealed the deal when she stole the ball with 22 seconds left. She drove 90 feet and laid the ball in to push Lamar to their first conference victory of the 2019 season.

From Coach Aqua Franklin:
On Amber Vidal's performance and her contributions to the win:
"A lot. She has to shoot the ball for us to have a chance to win. She is getting back into her grove. She started early this season with 26 against Oklahoma State, but she went into a shooter's slump. Getting back into the gym and the basics, And I am excited that she is finally seeing success after her hard work."

On getting that first win in conference:
"Excited. It is always good to win. I think our team came out and played extremely hard. We paid attention to the details. We fought through some adversity and it was good. Always excited to win, but getting the first conference win for the players makes me happy."

 From Amber Vidal:
On her performance and helping the team win:
"I think the team was behind me and they trusted me. Overall, I think with them trusting me and having my back, it helps me get going."

On what helped secure the first conference victory:
"Just sticking to our fundamentals and the basics. Coach (Aqua) Franklin is hard on us in practice by putting those situations in practice, and I think that we just went back to our basics and fundamentals."

Up Next: The Cardinals will back home to round out 2019, facing Northwestern State at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday. The Northwestern State game will be broadcasted on the ESPN+.

Cleaning The Glass: The Cardinals out-rebounded SLU, 40-36, marking the fourth time this season that the Cardinals have out-rebounded their opponents.