BEAUMONT, Texas - As the Southland Conference women's basketball tournament seeding races begin the heat up, Lamar University's women's basketball team (16-5, 10-1) is currently a half-game behind Southeastern Louisiana (15-8, 11-1) for first place in the standings. After picking up a home win against the Lions nearly three weeks ago, the Cardinals will look to complete the regular season sweep and leapfrog the Lions in their next meeting in Hammond this Thursday night at 6:00 p.m.
TWO MORE UNDER 10'S
Big Red controlled Nicholls all throughout the game with a 70-44 win. The Cardinals held the Colonels to under 10 points in two quarters. This marks the 13th and 14th quarters and 12th game this season that the Cardinals achieved this feat and they are 11-1 when doing so. The 44 points LU gave up are tied for the second fewest points allowed, which they shared in their game against UTEP.
RECONNECTING WITH A FRIEND
While Akasha Davis' double-double streak ended last Thursday, she was able to pick up her 12th double-double and eighth in the last nine games on Saturday. She led LU with 17 points and 16 rebounds . Davis is one of nine players in the nation with 12 double-doubles, which puts her in a tie for 17th. She also ranks eighth in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (4.6) and 19th in total rpg (10.5).
DENLEY 4 3 x 4
Jacei Denley set a new season-high with 16 points on five-of-nine shooting, which included a season-high four three-pointers. She also dished out a pair of assists and the stole the ball twice while blocking one shot. Her previous high was 15 points against LMU, which featured a then season-high three treys including the game-winner.
SOUTHLAND UPDATE
Six of the 10 teams have already played 12 conference games while LU, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UIW and Nicholls have played 11. LU trails SLU by a half-game while maintaining a two-game lead on the Islanders, a four-game lead on UIW and a five-game edge on the Colonels respectively. UIW also has a half game lead on Texas A&M-Commerce and New Orleans. All teams will have played the same amount of conference games by the end of next Thursday.
LAST TIME VS THE LIONS
The Cardinals handed the Lions their first conference loss with a 59-45 victory. Akasha Davis led LU with 19 points and 17 rebounds while Sabria Dean also posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Brooklyn Mitchell set a then career-high with 10 points. The Cardinals' defense held SLU to a season-low 45 points. Last time in Hammond, LU had Davis and Malay McQueen score 14 points in a 57-47 win. All-time, LU holds a 26-22 advantage on the Lions. Despite this, Hammond hasn't been kind to the Cardinals in 22 meetings as the SLU holds a 14-8 mark in their home gym against LU.
SINCE WE LAST MET
The Lions haven't lost since losing to LU. Still in first place at 11-1, the Lions are fresh off 59-51 win against Northwestern State. SLU had a three point lead early in the fourth quarter before they pulled away with a run of nine straight points. Four members were in double-figures in the win with Taylor Bell scoring 14 points while Hailey Giaratano (12), Jalencia Pierre (11), and Allasia Washington (10) combined for 33 points.
RING THE BELL
Taylor Bell has been on a scoring spree as of late. Averaging 23.0 ppg in the last three games, Bell was one rebound shy of a double-double against NSU. She recently posted her season high 20 points against McNeese making eight-of-14 from the field and is now second on the team in scoring with 10.0 ppg.
JUST DON'T TURN THE BALL OVER
This matchup pits the two best teams with the highest turnover margins. Both teams have committed fewer than 300 turnovers this season. But SLU has forced 391 turnovers from their opponents, which averages to a league best 17 per game in 23 games. Their turnover margin of 4.17 also tops the SLC. In contrast, LU has allowed 16.6 turnovers per game in 21 games played.
UP NEXT FOR LU
The Cardinals will head down I-55 from Hammond to New Orleans to meet the Privateers for a Saturday tip-off at 2:00 PM.
#WeAreLU
