BEAUMONT, Texas. - The Lamar University women's basketball team found themselves down double-digits at halftime and hoped to pull off another come from behind victory. But while the Cardinals trailed within three in the final seconds, that was as close as they would get. In the end, they suffered their first home and Southland Conference loss 73-70 to Texas A&M-Commerce.
Akasha Davis led the Cardinals with 21 points and 18 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. She also went nine-of-10 from the free throw line. Sabria Dean finished with 14 points while R'Mani Taylor collected nine points of her own. Defensively, Jacei Denley tallied three steals to go along with seven points in the contest.
AMC outshot the Cardinals from the field (43.4%-40.6%) and from behind the three-point line (44.4%-26.7%). In spite of this, the Cardinals did outrebound the Lions 43-37 and were able to dominate the pain with a 32-26 edge.
Early on, Davis outscored the Lions 10-2 in the first part of the opening quarter. The Lions would chip away at the lead going on a 9-2 run to trail 12-11 before baskets by Taylor and Taliah Hill pushed the lead back to five. But AMC answered with seven straight points to grab an 18-16 lead.
Helped by three treys, the Lions controlled the second quarter 22-12 to grab a 40-28 lead at the break. While the Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 26-24 as Hill put up a pair of baskets, AMC created their lead to 31-24. Following two more Cardinal buckets, the Lions ran up nine straight points for the 12-point halftime lead.
The Cardinals rallied in the third quarter outscoring the Lions 21-14 to trail 54-49 after three. For most of the quarter though, they trailed by three possessions. But LU closed the gap to as close as 51-47. The Lions responded with three free throws only for Dean to knock down a pair herself as it was 54-49 in AMC's favor going into the fourth quarter.
AMC opened with a five-point run to lead 59-49. But the Cardinals rallied again responded with a 12-3, which included a three by Malay McQueen to cut the deficit to one. After the Lions tacked on two points, NJ Weems single-handedly game LU their first lead since the first quarter with four straight points. But over the final three minutes, AMC recaptured the lead and never relinquished it. Despite LU's last attempt to tie the game, the Lions converted critical free throws down the stretch and would hold on for a 73-70 win.
At 10-5 overall and 4-1 in conference play, the Cardinals will drive I-10 West to meet up with Houston Christian this Saturday with the tip-off being at 1:00 p.m.