BEAUMONT, Texas - For the second straight game,
Sabria Dean tallied 29 points as she would help the Lamar University women's basketball team to a 73-56 win over Northwestern State University. LU is 2-0 in Southland Conference play to go along with an 8-4 overall record.
Behind a 17-point first half, Dean posted 11-of-19 from the floor including three from downtown while also converting all four of her free throws and snagging seven rebounds.
Akasha Davis would score 14 of her 16 points in the second half and finish one rebound shy of a double-double while hitting six-of-seven from the field.
R'Mani Taylor would dish the rock for six assists to go along with seven points for the contest.
The Cardinals would win most offensive categories including field goal percentage (43.5%-37.0%), three-point percentage (37.5%-21.4%), and free throw percentage (65.0%-59.1%). They also outrebounded the Demons 47-30 and would knock down six threes while NSU, one of the top three-point shooting teams in the SLC, only made three.
Early in the first quarter, Dean would battle the Demons with four early points to trail 5-4. NSU responded on a 7-3 run to go up 12-7 before the Cards turned up the heat to outscore the purple squad 14-4 for the rest of the quarter. Dean settled for nine points after one quarter while other key buckets came from Davis,
Brooklyn Mitchell, and
Taliah Hill as LU made 61.54% from the field.
LU led 21-16 after the first quarter and Dean stretched their lead to 11 after a pair of threes to open the second. While the Demons fired up their forks and rallied to within 27-24,
Malay McQueen sparked a 10-6 run with a pair of threes as the Cardinals took a 37-30 lead through two quarters. All this occurred despite LU having their worst quarter shooting 22.73% from the field.
The pivotal quarter proved to be the third as LU went off on a 22-10 surge to lead 59-40 after three. After being held two just one field goal in the first half, Davis woke up in the third with eight points, including a six-point stretch to start the second half. Dean claimed responsibility for 10 points to be at 27 through three quarters. LU's defense kept the Demons off-balance for only three field goals.
Dean's last basket came early in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals finished with 14 points. On two different occasions did LU's lead grow to 20 with Davis scoring six points in the last 10 minutes.
Teni Kuyinu came off the bench to pick up three points as Big Red secured the 73-57 win.
Now on a three-game winning streak, Big Red will hit the road next Thursday night to take on border rival McNeese at 7:00 p.m, Lake Charles, La.
