NATCHITOCHES, La. - Battling hard till the final minutes, Lamar University's women's basketball team were unable to grab the lead at any point and lost a heartbreaker to Northwestern State 54-52 in the Prather Coliseum. LU is 10-10 overall and 4-5 in Southland Conference play.
Akasha Davis led LU with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Portia Adams and
Sabria Dean each recorded nine points while
Emma Imevbore tallied six and R'mani Taylor had seven. The Cardinals finished the game shooting 34.9% from the field.
Early in the first quarter, the Demons caught fire with four treys a jumper to go up 14-4. A run of four straight by LU cut the lead to six at 14-8. But the Demons would finish off a quarter in which they made 47.1% from the field to go up 21-12. LU made 28.6% from the field.
As the second quarter began, LU opened with a 6-3 run to bring the margin down to 24-18. After a Demon basket, the Cardinals cut the deficit to 26-22, which included four points from Imevbore before an NSU three extended it to seven. A pair of Dean free throws cut the deficit to 29-24 going into halftime. In a somewhat inverse of the first quarter, Big Red outshot NSU 41.7%-20.0% from the field.
A three from Adams opened the scoring in the third quarter while Davis tied the game at 29 with a lay-up. Following an NSU three, Davis then added nine straight points and brought LU to within 37-36. But the Cards couldn't grab the lead as seven straight points by the Demons made it 44-36 only for Adams to get the game within 44-40. NSU then sank a three-pointer at the buzzer to grab a 47-40 lead entering the final 10 minutes.
After nearly three minutes of scoreless play, Taylor, Davis and Dean combined to tie the game at 47 before the Demons retook the lead with 3:38 to go. Taylor cut the deficit to 51-49 with under two to play. One NSU free throw made it 52-49 and the Cardinals grabbed the ball with 43 seconds to go. Dean tied the game with a three-pointer only the Demons retook the lead with six seconds to go. The Cardinals last gasp to tie fell off the iron and the Demons hung on for the win.
LU will hit the road next Thursday to McNeese for a 5:00 p.m., tipoff.
