BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University women's basketball program dropped their second-straight after being defeated, 75-49, by Abilene Christian on Saturday afternoon from the Montagne Center.
The Cardinals' offense showed their might in the first quarter behind sophomore
Angel Hastings. Hastings put Lamar up at the end of the quarter, 17-14, behind six first quarter points, both shots being from beyond the arc. Senior
Briana Laidler tallied four rebounds, one steal and one block during the quarter to help the Cardinals defensively.
In the second, the Wildcats found their grove, shooting a staggering 57 percent from the floor during the second quarter. Abilene Christian was led by senior duo Breanna Wright and Dominique Golightly. Wright finished the first half with just eight points but went on to finish the contest with 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting. Golightly added 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
Junior
Jadyn Pimentel got back into the grove during the contest. The St. Louis, Mo., native, finished the contest with 13 points and added seven assists and five steals to her stat line. Hastings added two rebounds, one steal and one assists to her 16-point performance.
From Coach Aqua Franklin:
Overall Statement:
"We played extremely well in the first quarter. We had not let down yet, and we went back to doing things that were not coached to do. I thought in the second quarter we move the ball a lot, and as a result we score seven, it was seven to 21. We dropped our heads and they come out in the third quarter and go on a run. The thing we talked about with a team like Abilene Christian is we must turn it threes into twos. We had a goal of only allowing a five because they average 11. We only want them to score five, so we'll turn 30 points into 15 points, and they made eight of them and it was always seemed when it seemed like when we were on our run. They'll knock down one or two. We're going to continue to work, get better and get prepared for Nichols."
On the game plan and moving forward:
"We just got to figure that we got to save the game plan. It worked in the first quarter, and then we strayed away from it. We got Angel a couple threes by running our offense and she was 4-for-13 from three. We got some easy looks, Jadyn got downhill, and we drew some fouls. We just got to stick with the game plan and it's just us, continuing to read what we do with the switching defenses. They went zone. They went man. They switch one through four. We got to stay disciplined and execute."
From junior Jadyn Pimentel:
On her strategy to get up and pressure on defense:
"We're coming in and we knew that pressuring them would be the best game plan. I was trying to make sure to speed the game up, getting them tried and to get them pressured as much as I could, so they could not see the full so clear."
Up Next: The Cardinals will play host to Southland opponent Nicholls on Wednesday, February 12, in the Montagne Center. Lamar captured the first meeting between the programs this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
