CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Lamar University (22-7, 17-3 SLC) gave head coach Aqua Franklin her 100th career victory by defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (15-16, 7-13 SLC), 71-54 at the American Bank Center. Franklin becomes the fourth head coach in program history to win 100 games joining Pat Park, Larry Tidwell, and Robin Harmony.
Sabria Dean led the Cardinals with 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Akasha Davis finished one rebound shy of a double-double to go along with 14 points. Other contributions came from KJ Walker, who made 11 points, including three shots from downtown, Jacei Denley (seven points) with a team-high six assists, and R'Mani Taylor, who collected nine points.
Big Red made 47.2 from the field, including six three-pointers and also 75 percent (15-20) from the free throw line. LU crashed the boards for 44 rebounds and dished out 16 of the game's 23 assists. Corpus Christi stole the ball 10 times and blocked five LU shots but couldn't stop 19 points off the Cardinal bench.
LU scored the first four points in the opening minute, which forced the Islanders to call an early timeout. Taylor kept the Cardinal start going by connecting on back-to-back threes stretching the score to 10-0. The Islanders got on a roll with an 8-3 run, but NJ Weems drilled LU's third three-pointer of the quarter. While the Islanders outshot LU, it was the Cardinals who led 16-11.
The score was 18-14 early in the second quarter when the Cardinals rode a tidal wave of momentum to a 21-4 run to close out the first half. Behind 46.7 percent from the field, Big Red reeled in six points from Davis while Walker came off the bench to hit a pair of threes for eight points. Galveston native Bebe Galloway added three points near the end of the first half, which saw the Cardinals lead 37-18.
The Islanders started the third quarter with seven unanswered but had to watch Big Red build its second 20-point lead of the game at 51-31. This included a five-point rally from T'Aaliyah Miner, who added five rebounds in the game. Over the final two minutes, Corpus Christi trimmed the deficit to 53-39 heading into the final 10 minutes of the regular season.
Much like in previous matchups, the Islanders started to rally in the fourth quarter as they got to within 10 at the 7:20 mark. That would be as close as it would get as the Cardinals answered with a 11-4 run. Despite having fewer shot attempts, Big Red made 6-of-8 from the field while it dried up the Islander offense to 4-of-15. LU ended the game with the final of 71-54.
As the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, the Cardinals will wait till next Wednesday to have their first postseason game in the semifinals. The game will start at 1 p.m. and will be held in the Legacy Center in Lake Charles, La.
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