HOUSTON, Texas - 44 hours after walking off the Montagne Center triumphant over Houston Christian University, Lamar University's women's basketball team tipped off against the same opponent down in Houston. In a tight-battle that came down to the last shot,
Sabria Dean converted a buzzer-beater in the H to win 55-53. The Cardinals have won their last six games in a row and are 16-10 overall and 10-5 in the conference. The win also punches their ticket to the Southland Conference tournament in Lake Charles, La.
While Dean tallied 11 points, which included her buzzer-beater,
Akasha Davis returned to form recording her seventh double-double with 16 points on seven-of-eight shooting and 14 rebounds.
Portia Adams also scored 10 points in the win. Big Red finished with 41.4% from the field.
The Cardinals got off to a solid start with a 8-4 run. But the Huskies would catch up and each team battled to a 15-15 tie before the media timeout with 1:19 to go.
R'Mani Taylor and Dean each hit jumpers to put LU up 19-15 after a first quarter that saw the Cardinals convert 56.3% from the field.
HCU opened the second with five straight points to grab the 20-19 lead. For the rest of the quarter, neither side would be able to get a two-possession lead until LU got a free throw from
Emma Imevbore with 56 seconds to go.
Portia Adams would put up six of her eight first-half points in the quarter as LU shot 30.8% from the field. A three-pointer by HCU cut the deficit to 29-28 at the half.
When the latter 20 minutes began, Davis increased their lead to 31-28 before the Huskies emerged with five straight points to retake the lead. The two sides swapped leads as a three by
Malay McQueen gave the Cards a 41-38 edge. An HCU lay-up was followed by Following a Davis three-point play as she reached double-figures and provided Big Red a 44-40 lead through 30 minutes.
LU kept the two-possession lead to 49-44. But all of a sudden, the Huskies retook control of the game with nine straight points to be up 51-49. Davis tied the score with a lay-up right as the media timeout occurred. The Huskies grabbed the lead at 53-51 and looked for an extension only for
Taliah Hill to come up with a big block to give LU the possession. Taylor converted a jumper to tie the game with a minute left to go. The Huskies turned the ball over on a travel and the Cardinals maintained possession with 26 seconds to go. LU missed the jumper, but would get one more chance with 1.9 seconds to go.
Expecting the ball to go to Davis, the Huskies' defense double-teamed her only to leave Dean on the left side of the lane. Dean caught the ball and fired the jumper over a defender, which sailed through the net with two-tenths left to go in the game. A last-ditch effort by HCU did not go off and the Cardinals completed the sweep of HCU.
The Cards have three games to go and will play their final two home regular season games next week. Thursday night will see LU match up against first place Southeastern at 5:00 p.m., at the Montagne Center.
