SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Tied at 44 going into the final quarter, Lamar University (18-7, 13-3 SLC) rode the back of
Akasha Davis, who scored eight of her 18 points to get a big 61-53 win over UIW (15-11, 10-7 SLC). The win keeps LU a half game up on Stephen F. Austin for second place in the Southland Conference standings.
Scoring 14 points in the second half, Davis converted 70 percent of her shots (7-of-10) and recorded 10 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season.
Jacei Denley tallied 13 points while
R'Mani Taylor (eight points) was second on Big Red with five rebounds. Another contribution came from
KJ Walker, who finished with a season-high nine points on three shots from downtown.
LU made 44.7 percent from the field and tallied 15-of-17 from the free throw line. Defensively, Big Red held the opposition to 29.4 percent, which included two quarters of conceding fewer than 10 points.
The first quarter started strong for Denley, who netted the game's first seven points. A steal and score by
NJ Weems made it 9-0, which forced UIW to call an early timeout. Davis netted four points to put the score at 13-2 before UIW collected six straight to trail 13-8. LU went 6-of-13 from the field (46.2 percent) in the first quarter.
With a 17-13 lead early in the second quarter, Big Red received a boost from Walker, who connected on back-to-back threes, stretching its lead to 23-13. The other Cardinals charged back to get within 23-20 before the media timeout. LU responded with free throws from Taylor and Denley while
T'Aaliyah Miner came off the bench to score four points, which gave the good Cardinals a 31-25 lead at the break.
Despite six early points from Davis in the third quarter, UIW closed to within 37-36 at the halfway point. LU got its lead to as much as four (44-40) after Walker drilled her third three-pointer of the game. UIW, which was helped by seven free throws, evened the score at 44 going into the last 10 minutes.
LU's plan heading into the final quarter was to keep feeding the ball to Davis, and she would ignite a 6-2 run, which put her team up 50-46. While UIW got within 50-49 after a three-ball with four minutes to go, that was as close as the final quarter would get. Big Red netted six unanswered points, including a jumper from Weems with 57 seconds to go to lead 56-49. LU's defense shut down the other Cardinals for fewer than 10 points as it preserved the 61-53 victory.
LU heads eastbound on I-10 to Houston, where it will take on the Huskies of Houston Christian at Sharp Gym. The game is scheduled to tip off at noon and will be broadcast on Newstalk 560Â KLVI and streamed on ESPN+.
Â
